


hear them howl

by astroblemish



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Lawyers, M/M, Magic, Non-Graphic Violence, Recreational Drug Use, Werewolves, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 04:18:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16987908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astroblemish/pseuds/astroblemish
Summary: Everybody expects Junmyeon to be a cat person --it’s probably the witch thing. Helping out a werewolf, though, will hopefully change their minds.





	hear them howl

**Author's Note:**

> A NON JONGDAE PAIRING FIC for the first time in over one and a half years. and it's. a baekhyun pairing. i really.......................
> 
> the extent of my law knowledge comes from ace attorney, suits, legally blonde, and that one time i had jury duty. which is already combing three countries' worth of law and making things Messy. since this is half-fantasy tho i figured i could invent my own system, so sorry for the inaccuracies. actual law is like, really really boring and slow-paced so i needed to fictionalise it uhijnk
> 
> this is more like teen wolf style normal alpha/omega stuff than wet asses and mpreg, promise. have to say that for my own dignity's sake. also sorry to Loco for making him a jackass but uh, started writing this when young came out so. that's how it be. don't know how i feel about this fic but im really sick of looking at it so!

* * *

 Junmyeon currently has three arch-nemeses in his life: tequila, telephone calls, and Kim Jongdae.

As it stands, his current situation involves the latter two, his phone buzzing in the darkness as Jongdae’s obnoxious face pops up on his screen. A blind fumble has Junmyeon’s right hand hitting its mark on the bedside table eventually, and he groans before answering.

“This better be fucking good,” Junmyeon hisses. He’s never been an early riser, and three a.m surpasses the realm of early. Junmyeon has work in four hours and a deep-seated hatred for his so-called ‘friend’.

“Hey Myeonnie,” Jongdae greets faux-sweetly, meaning it does nothing to soothe Junmyeon’s rampant agitation. “Remember that favour you owe me?”

“No,” Junmyeon grits out, ripping the covers off his body and slinging his legs over the side of the bed anyway, flicking his fingers at the ceiling light so that it switches on; one of the only useful spells he can manage, these days. “As I remember it, _you_ owe _me_ favours.”

“Semantics,” Jongdae says, even if it’s anything but. Junmyeon can picture him waving his hands all nonchalantly, flashing his fang-toothed grin, working some of his devilish (literally) charm. “Anyway. Feel like coming to the police station?”

The last thing Junmyeon wants to do at three a.m on a Friday morning is go to the police station, but here he is anyway, mentally tallying another favour onto Jongdae’s total debt and asking himself why he does the things he does. Junmyeon has free will and wants of his own, yet all Jongdae has to do is tack on a little _pretty please?_ and Junmyeon is doing whatever he wants. It sucks.

As it stands, it’s too late to back out now, Junmyeon walking through a couple of magic detectors without setting them off and smoothly adjusting his tie as he asks the receptionist where he can find one _Byun Baekhyun_ , considering he’ll be representing him as his attorney. The receptionist --a young, pretty nymph with doe-eyes who truly looks like she’s out of her own depth, a real fish out of water-- points down the hall.

Junmyeon chuckles at his own joke to himself as he’s led to a cell by a young policeman, where Baekhyun is apparently being questioned by an officer --to no avail, by the looks of things, which is a good sign. At least Jongdae’s friend isn’t an idiot, if he’s not falling for the bait of talking without a lawyer present.

Junmyeon double-checks the bags under his eyes in his reflection on the glass, grimacing briefly, before opening the door. The officer cuts off abruptly, and sizes Junmyeon down immediately, raking his eyes over Junmyeon’s body.

“Are you done harassing my client without his lawyer present?” Junmyeon asks, and the officer growls before quickly leaving, the door slamming shut behind him. Junmyeon sighs.

“Nice,” Baekhyun says, sniffling once, handcuffed to the wall. “You must be Jongdae’s friend. Junmyeon, right?” He outstretches a cuffed hand through the bars.

Byun Baekhyun, in hindsight, isn’t really much of anything. Broad shoulders while the rest of him is scrawny, with shoddily-dyed blonde hair, brown roots, and the kind of youthful skin that makes Junmyeon a little envious. He’s wearing torn jeans, astronaut-patterned socks, and the type of hoodie that’s stylistically three sizes too big and it’s all scrunched up by his elbows where he’s pushed his sleeves up in order to deal with the heat of the cell --he can’t take off the hoodie, of course, because he’s handcuffed to the wall, blood-covered knuckles stretching and cracking as Baekhyun flexes his other hand freely now that the police officer is out of the room. He isn’t much of anything, and he certainly doesn’t look like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, so to speak.

“Friend is a stretch,” Junmyeon replies dryly, flicking through the manilla folder he’d been handed on the way in that consists of half-processed paperwork instead of Baekhyun’s hand, who retracts it with a small frown. Rough handwriting outlines a quick recap of the crimes currently undergoing investigation --as well as Baekhyun’s previous charges; grand theft auto, trespassing, vandalism, all gotten off with fines and community service, for the most part, other than a few months spent in juvie when he was sixteen for, who’d have guessed, assault.

“How did you meet Jongdae?” Baekhyun asks, distracting Junmyeon from skim-reading, and he glances up to consider Baekhyun’s face, grimacing a little. Meeting Jongdae involved tequila, telephone calls, and Jongdae himself, the thorn in Junmyeon’s side that he is. They’d met at a bar downtown while Junmyeon was out celebrating Joohyun’s birthday, and he’d been enraptured by the late-night discount tequila specials and the way Jongdae’s slightly elongated tiefling tongue had licked the salt and sucked on a wedge of lime. They’d made out in the bathrooms for an amount of time Junmyeon had been far too drunk to estimate --somewhere between twenty minutes and thirty seconds-- and since Junmyeon had also been too drunk to remember his own number, he’d just given Jongdae his business card instead. There had _definitely_ been a comment about him being a sleazy lawyer, but between the tequila and Jongdae’s tongue down his throat Junmyeon struggles to remember how that one went.

Jongdae didn’t call, but five days later at around midnight the police station did, an automated response telling Junmyeon he was being redirected to someone who was currently being accused of certain crimes. Jongdae had said, “Hey sleazy, you’re a lawyer, right?” And Junmyeon somehow found himself negotiating with a shop owner into dropping charges against Jongdae for vandalism and trespassing. Petty crimes, really, but charges can get added up on a record real fast.

Junmyeon won, of course, even if talking with someone calmly at one a.m as to why they shouldn’t press charges against the guy Junmyeon had made out with in a bar five nights ago doesn’t truly have a clear winner. Jongdae got off as long as he promised to disenchant his graffiti, repaint the wall, and promise never to do it again. He had all of course, with his devil’s smile and twinkling eyes, and while he’d told Junmyeon the life of crime was behind him, Junmyeon just assumes that means he’s stopped getting caught. Nothing kills the sex drive more like having to defend someone from vandalism charges at midnight after getting no call for nearly a week, so they’d just stuck to… whatever they are. It mostly consists of Jongdae cashing in favours he doesn’t deserve, and Junmyeon unable to say no because in return he gets Jongdae’s company at random, sporadic intervals. Not friends.

“Let’s just say how I met Jongdae isn’t important,” Junmyeon decides eventually, shuffling the papers in his hands as he glances over them again briefly. “So,” he starts, staring at Baekhyun openly. “Assault.”

Baekhyun’s boyish face twists into a scowl quickly, and he growls, lightly, in the back of his throat. Yep, there’s the werewolf part. Junmyeon internally sighs; he doesn’t have a prejudice against werewolves, per se, but there’s a huge part of their culture and community that consists of: being inherently animalistic. They can be too much for his tastes, but then again, maybe that’s his mother talking.

“It’s not assault,” Baekhyun spits back. “It was a Proving. It was consensual!!”

A Proving? “Assault can’t really be consensual,” Junmyeon says dryly. “And considering the fact that this Hyukwoo is currently in hospital with twelve stitches while you’re here with nothing more than a few scratches, it’s hard to believe that it was consensual.”

“Of course it was consensual! It’s a Proving, it’s tradition, the only reason that piece of shit is pressing charges is because he _lost_ \--”

Junmyeon sighs, rubbing his temple. It’s pretty common practice in the modern era, old magic traditions being contained by the red-tape of law and things start to get a little sticky. Vampires committing murder were horror tales three hundred years ago, but nowadays it’s always an ethics debate as to whether they deserve to eat or not, if young, fledgling vampires don’t deserve leeway for being rabid once they wake up and murder a person or five. Sirens accidentally luring people to their death by crossing a road without looking both ways as they sing in the shower can count as manslaughter, and ghosts inhabiting properties unwanted counts as trespassing. It’s all very much a big mess of new rules and old traditions that makes being a lawyer very, very difficult.

However Junmyeon specialises in this type of magi-political law --magic vs. the court, so to speak-- and is well-versed in the practices and traditions of hundreds of species of creatures in order to know how to bend the rules to fit their needs. Never before, however, has he dealt with a wolf’s proving --a duel between two werewolves, one of lesser rank and one of higher, in order to swap positions within the pack. Werewolves are as loyal to each other as they are scorning of the human system; for the most part, Junmyeon hardly ever encounters them, other than a few howls here and there when he’s out too late or catcalls directed at his female friends on nights out.

“So what?” Junmyeon asks. “Some little omega challenged you for your position and you beat the crap out of him?” All very professional lawyer terms indeed --never mind that; how the fuck does Jongdae even know this guy, and why the fuck did Junmyeon agree to take the pro-bono case of some testosterone-filled mutt facing assault? It won’t be an easy win, and Junmyeon _hates_ losing.

“What?” Baekhyun’s face scrunches in confusion. His chains rattle. “ _I_ challenged _him_.”

Junmyeon pauses, faltering. “You’re an omega?” He’s surprised, really, and although he tries not to show it, he surely fails. No one truly understands what makes a wolf take which ranking within a pack --although magi-sci has greatly tried to hypothesize-- but a lot of it is thought to be based on both aspects of physical capabilities and personality. Smaller and serving tend to be omegas, while the larger and more dominant tend to be alphas. No one really fucking knows what a beta does, not even the wolves themselves.

And Baekhyun? With his loud voice and sharp teeth, strikes Junmyeon as something far, from an omega.

“Yes I’m an omega,” he hisses, scowling. “Although I tried to prove that that was a baseless fucking label slapped onto me just because my eyes glow a different colour and now I’m currently chained to a wall because of it.” He holds up his handcuffed hands to prove a point. “Surprised?”

“...Yes,” Junmyeon admits, because he is, but this case also just got far more winnable, and Junmyeon feels far more awake. No jury would take pity on a rough alpha victimising a poor omega, but an omega winning... “So you challenged this Hyukwoo for his place as alpha and won?” Baekhyun nods --Junmyeon is both surprised, and a little impressed. “And he’s pressing charges to avoid you taking his place.” It’s pretty smart on Hyukwoo’s part; Junmyeon has to give him credit. “Please tell me someone witnessed your proving.”

“Of course I have witnesses.” Baekhyun folds his arms --as best he can, with his hands chained up like that. The cuffs slip down a little, and Junmyeon winces at the burn marks he spots… right, the cuffs are silver, to prevent Baekhyun from using his wolf strength or shifting. He must be in a lot of pain, but he’s not showing it. “It can’t be a proving without a council, unfortunately the council in question is _surprisingly_ partial to the alpha in this situation.” …Of course they are, it’s not an uncommon prejudice to favour the leader, the stronger wolf. Theoretically, of course, but Baekhyun had technically upturned all that by beating the crap out of him --again, law jargon, very complicated.

“Have you tried talking to them?” Junmyeon suggests; people crack pretty easily under the pressure of law if they’re persuaded well enough.

Baekhyun gives him a flat look, rattles his chains. Oh, Junmyeon facepalms, right.

“I got one phone call,” Baekhyun reminds him. “And I called Jongdae. And now I have you. Please don’t make me regret that phone call by being an idiot, I’m fucking starving and I could’ve used it to order pizza.”

“I suppose fighting someone really takes it out of you, hm?” Baekhyun’s lips twitch upwards at that, grin a little feral. It’s not a bad look.

“You have no idea,” Baekhyun says, shifting in his seat. He shakes his silver chains pointedly all over again. “Now. Want to do your job and get me out of these?”

  
  
  
  


 

Kwon Hyukwoo refuses to drop charges at all costs, which makes sense, considering any werewolf with half a brain would try to delay losing their position as alpha.

“Well fuck,” Baekhyun says, forced to stay in the station’s cell until all the paperwork can be processed and Junmyeon’s request for paid bail goes through. “Think you can do me another favour?”

Technically, food isn’t allowed to be given to prisoners, but at four o’clock in the morning nobody on duty seems to really care. Junmyeon has the pizza delivered by a very scared looking pubescent boy directly to the cell, and passes it to Baekhyun through the bars vertically.

“Careful, careful!!!” Baekhyun says frantically, taking the box with uncharacteristic tenderness. “You’re going to make all the toppings fall off.”

Junmyeon gives him an unimpressed look, then sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He could wait outside in the hall, but police officers tend to like lawyers as much as Junmyeon’s mother likes his choice in careers, so he feels better standing here, watching Baekhyun sit on the dirty floor cross-legged and scoff down mouthfuls of pizza with the silver chain stretched taut. Amazing.

He seems to sense Junmyeon’s disgust, and shuffles so that he’s holding the box up against the bars. Junmyeon doesn’t see a wolf, but instead a puppy, with a wagging tail and needy eyes. Oh, so that’s why Jongdae probably likes him so much --an assumption that he’s even capable of liking people, but Jongdae is a self-serving little bitch at the best of times; he only looks out for the people he cares about.

“No thank you,” Junmyeon says curtly.

“But I can’t afford you,” Baekhyun whines, thrusting out the pizza box harder, as if Junmyeon is an out-of-his-league sex worker and not a lawyer. “So let me make it up to you.”

It sounds like a sexual favour in Junmyeon’s six a.m sleep deprived mind, especially after the sex worker thought.

“You realise I paid for that right? So it isn’t a repayment at all?” But Baekhyun is _insisting_ , and it’s hard for Junmyeon to worm his way out. He holds out a slice of pizza expectantly; Junmyeon eyes the mess on his mouth. “I _can’t_. This suit is Gucci and I cant have more than four-hundred calories for breakfast.”

Baekhyun just looks at him, blinking once, twice, before bursting into laughter.

“Oh wow.” He wipes a tear from the corner of his eye. “You witches are just as pretentious as they say, huh?” Junmyeon stiffens immediately, narrowing his eyes. “Oh calm down Gucci boy, I can smell the magic on you.”

“I’m not a witch,” Junmyeon argues immediately. Can Baekhyun really smell magic? “Not anymore.”

“What are you then?” Baekhyun asks with half a mouthful, a string of rubbery cheese stretched between his lips and the pizza slice.

“A lawyer,” Junmyeon replies dryly. When his mother had said _what are you going to do with yourself if not practice magic, Junmyeon?_ Junmyeon had said _I’m going to practice law._

“Boring answer for a boring man,” Baekhyun says easily, pulling at the cheese with an index finger. It still doesn’t break. “You could’ve given me any reply in the world and you chose to give me your profession.”

Junmyeon furrows his eyebrows. “I’m not boring,” he retorts petulantly, like a child. Baekhyun smirks.

“Well only fun people have pizza for breakfast, don’t you think?” It’s bait and Junmyeon knows it, but he’s petty and he hates losing. He snatches the half-bitten slice right out of Baekhyun’s hand through the bars so that the cheese string snaps, and immediately takes a huge mouthful. Oh fuck, it’s so greasy and disgusting Junmyeon can feel it heading straight to his precious, hand-sculpted abs, and he doesn’t care one fucking bit. It’s _so_ good.

“So if I asked what you were, you wouldn’t say ‘werewolf’?” Junmyeon questions, dabbing at his mouth with the handkerchief Sooyoung had given him for his birthday last year, kept in his left pocket.

“Nope.” Baekhyun plucks off a piece of pineapple, and pops it into his mouth. “I’d say something more interesting like… I’m the sort of person that really likes pineapple on pizza and refuses to accept otherwise.”

Junmyeon just laughs, despite himself, despite the exhaustion and the crankiness and the grease stains on his fingertips. This is ridiculous; he hates Jongdae, sometimes, for always managing to get Junmyeon into the most bizarre situations he can.

“You’re a very weird person, Byun Baekhyun,” Junmyeon remarks, shaking his head.

“Now that’s an even better answer.” Baekhyun grins wolfishly, and Junmyeon can imagine the tail would wag behind him, if he had one. Never before in his life can Junmyeon say he’s ever eaten a shitty five dollar Hawaiian pizza with his werewolf of a client through a jail cell, but here he is. Junmyeon hates magic, sometimes, but he doesn’t know how else to describe the moment.

  
  


 

 

It’s unrealistic to keep someone chained up in silver for a one-off case of assault, and Junmyeon is able to get Baekhyun paid bail under the pretense that he promises to stay away from Kwon Hyukwoo --and consequently, the rest of his pack; Hyukwoo _is_ smart-- until his trial is over, and regularly visit the police station for mandatory check ups to make sure he’s not out in the world on a violent rampage. It’s the best deal Junmyeon can barter, so Baekhyun takes it, albeit with a sarcastic eye roll and saccharine smile.

For now, Baekhyun won’t get a court summons for quite some time, so he’s a free man.

“God it feels good to be out,” Baekhyun says as they step down the station stairs, cracking his neck. He’d had his personal belongings handed back to him in a plastic bag --wallet, keys, rolling papers, a tin of tobacco and lighter-- although his pocket knife, the officer had assured him, would be staying at the station. _What?_ Baekhyun had said, after Junmyeon gave him a pointed look. _Calm down man, it was a Swiss Army Knife._ The sun is peeking just over the horizon line, and Junmyeon mentally farewells any chance of him getting home and sleeping for the rest of the day. “Thanks for taking my case, man, I really owe it to you.”

Funny, Baekhyun kind of talks like Jongdae. “Don’t mention it,” Junmyeon assures, fiddling with his left cuff-link. “It’s my job.”

Baekhyun’s eyes are bright and eager, light brought back into them now that he’s no longer shoved into a holding cell and being threatened jail time.

“Here.” Junmyeon offers out his business card so Baekhyun has his number, hoping he doesn’t make a Jongdae-related comment about it. Baekhyun is a client and nothing more and there is a _lot_ of paperwork they’ll both be needing to fill out concerning all this pro-bono shit Junmyeon’s kind-hearted self has apparently decided to take on. As it stands it’s seven a.m and Junmyeon might as well go straight to work so he can pass out and die while Joohyun offers him no pity, he’s in no mood for paperwork. “You should go home and rest while you can, it’s been a long night.”

The shadows beneath Baekhyun’s eyes attest to it.

“I can’t go home,” he replies awkwardly. “The pack…”

Oh, right, Baekhyun probably lives on some farmhouse commune thing where they breed their own cows for milk and hide marijuana plants out the back of the barn. Werewolves have an affinity for the outdoors, or something, the same way witches have affinity for four-story high mansions and Louis Vuitton.

“Do you have a place to stay?” Junmyeon is only asking out of client concern and definitely not an offer because he has a nice bachelor’s condo on the thirtieth floor and he already has one dog, he doesn’t need another.

Baekhyun nods. “I can crash at Jongdae’s, it’s probably for the best, I think I’d punch one of my packmates in the face if I had to look at them.” Jesus.

“Next time we meet up we’ll talk about why you shouldn’t say things like that anymore.” Junmyeon pats Baekhyun’s shoulder, and then falters a little because he’s not a touchy person but. No. Okay. Junmyeon’s rolling with it. “You probably won’t get your court date for a week or so, but if for some reason the system is magically efficient call me and let me know.” He rubs his tired eyes, grimacing at the grease on his hands. A quick little spell wipes it all away. “We’ll do your paperwork…. Eventually.” Junmyeon is a chronic procrastinator at heart. Damn.

Baekhyun just looks amused, with a small smile on his face. “Not a witch, huh?” he asks, referring to Junmyeon’s spectacular display of magic.

“Not a witch,” Junmyeon repeats dutifully, like he has at every single one of his mother’s high society witch parties for the past three years. “Lawyer.”

“Or maybe just someone who likes pineapple on pizza,” Baekhyun adds, still smirking.

Junmyeon can’t even argue. “That too.”

  
  
  
  


Years of law school and studying for the bar have ensured Junmyeon is incredibly proficient at running on negative hours of sleep, although it’s a little concerning during one meeting with a dryad client undergoing numerous trespassing charges --poor girl just wants a tree to live in-- that he feels a deep-seated craving for red bull like he’s twenty again. It’s probably the pizza; Baekhyun apparently knocked Junmyeon off his low-cal habits and into the dark dimension of eldritch horrors such as processed carbohydrates and trans fats.

Junmyeon offhandedly recounts his day to an increasingly disinterested Joohyun over lunch who only talks once he’s done ending the story with how Baekhyun had disappeared into the subway system just like that. Aren’t wolves meant to hate the underground?

“I can’t believe you took a pro-bono case without Minseok forcing you to,” is all she has to say, staring at Junmyeon pointedly. “The wicked witch of the west had a heart all along.”

“That was the tinman,” Junmyeon retorts bitterly. Not a witch, he clenches his jaw, _lawyer_.

“Whatever Dorothy.” Junmyeon’s eyebrow twitches because can she _please_ be consistent with these analogies-- “I’m just shocked, I guess. How did Toto talk you into this one?”

Okay well, calling Baekhyun a tiny little dog probably is more accurate, but then the good witch of this story would be Jongdae which is just… so wrong. So, so wrong.

“He’s a friend of a friend,” Junmyeon grunts, and Joohyun hums in understanding like that makes sense, picking at her salad, which consists mostly of lettuce, for herself, and dry-freeze whole mice, which she passes to the snakes in her hair --err, well, the snakes that _are_ her hair.

“What sort of friend do you have that knows criminal werewolves?” she asks, arching an eyebrow.

Junmyeon sighs. “It’s a long story.” One that involves tequila, telephones, and Kim Jongdae, so he’s not fond of recounting it.

“I didn’t even know you had friends outside of work.” Junmyeon winces, because Joohyun is as blunt as she is sharp, sometimes --when the blow hits on purpose it hurts, but sometimes her words are as painful as her gaze and it’s kind of just. How she is. Junmyeon has learnt to accept it. “I’m happy for you? Even if it means you’re stuck with a crappy case.”

“Crappy,” Junmyeon agrees. “But not unwinnable.” He chews on his cheek in thought. “Been awhile since I’ve studied werewolves, though. I might have some brushing up to do.”

Joohyun just smiles, curving her eyes. “What?” Junmyeon asks, uncomfortable with how indescribably fond she seems. Emotions aren’t their forte.

“Nothing,” Joohyun replies. “Just… I don’t know, you actually look like you want to help this person. It’s nice to see you passionate again.”

“You say that like I don’t want to help my other clients.” Junmyeon laughs a little nervously. He doesn’t like the way Joohyun picks him apart, sometimes, and he certainly doesn’t like the way all the snakes on her head are watching him lazily, tasting his nerves in the air as they flick out their tongues.

“No, you do, but you seem… especially excited. Challenged, but in a good way.” Joohyun puffs out her cheeks cutely. “I don’t know how to word it, I’m just happy for you.”

“Okay, well--” Junmyeon straightens out his tie, a little flustered. “--Thank you.”

Joohyun’s smile is genuine and deadly, her eyes piercing. Junmyeon would almost prefer being turned to stone than being turned into something so transparent and readable.

“You’re welcome.”

  
  
  
  


Junmyeon is woken up from his impromptu Saturday nap --an attempt at catching up on lost hours-- by a phone call. Of course, his favourite, and since it’s woken him up, Junmyeon automatically assumes it’s Jongdae.

Bingo.

“What?” Junmyeon grunts, running a hand through his hair. It’s greasy and probably needs a wash, ASAP. “If you want me to do another jailbreak Jongdae I swear to Christ--”

Jongdae just cackles, a familiar sound. “Calm down Mr. Feisty I just wanted to treat you for helping Hyunnie out.” _Hyunnie_ , Jongdae speaks his name with so much ease Junmyeon wonders what it means to Jongdae. “Say… your favourite bar, eight o’clock?”

Junmyeon squints. “You better be buying.”

He can hear Jongdae’s smile. “Wouldn’t be offering if I weren’t.”

So Junmyeon lounges around in bed doing Sudoku puzzles for a while as Byul whines in her sleep then showers and washes his hair, painstakingly going through his twelve-step skin care routine one damn step at a time. He stares at his closet and picks out something easy and casual that won’t garner Jongdae’s teasing, and heads out at around seven-thirty, opting for the train over his car because… Jongdae. There’s probably tequila involved in Junmyeon’s future, and he’d like to keep it DUI free too.

The bar buzzes with music, conversation, and magic. Jongdae is sitting in a corner booth --easy to spot with his corkscrew horns and long tail-- with a familiar figure curled against him, and Junmyeon blinks in surprise.

“Heyyyy Myeonnie,” Jongdae says easily, crushing Junmyeon in a sideways hug. “Long time no see.”

“It’s only been two weeks since you dragged me out to get drunk and then made me pay the tab,” Junmyeon replies dryly.

“And oh how time flies!”

Junmyeon really needs better friends.

“Hello again,” Baekhyun says easily, although he makes no move to touch Junmyeon, which Junmyeon appreciates.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Jongdae explains obnoxiously. Scratch that, everything Jongdae does is obnoxious, it’s moot point. “But since he’s crashing on my couch he’s hard to get rid of, especially when alcohol is involved.” He startles, realising himself. “Shit, is there like, doctor-patient violations here?”

“What?” Junmyeon squints at Jongdae. “I’m not even a doctor, let alone _his_ doctor.” He points at Baekhyun, affronted. “I can do whatever I like with my clients.” He sits at the table petulantly to prove a point, even if it’s… not exactly true. He can do whatever he wants within _reason_ , of course.

“Likes pineapple on pizza and is not even a doctor,” Baekhyun comments wryly. “Noted.”

Jongdae, apparently being used to Baekhyun, ignores that altogether, even if Junmyeon gives him a somewhat quizzical look --he understands the reference, of course, but he doesn’t understand why Baekhyun chose to reference it; if that makes sense.

Jongdae sneaks away to grab beer after making a jab at Junmyeon for his argyle sweater vest --he’d thought his outfit was Jongdae-passing, damn-- and Junmyeon is left in the silence with a happily smiling Baekhyun, watching Junmyeon like he’s waiting for him to make the first move, a true predator indeed. Junmyeon is torn between fight or flight, but he really fucking hates losing.

“So how do you know Jongdae?” Junmyeon asks, because it’s only fair.

“Who doesn’t know Jongdae?” Baekhyun counters, which is… also fair. Jongdae knows everyone the same way a spider knows every single fly that’s trapped in its web, sensing the vibrations and imminent fear.

“Yes but you know Jongdae _well_ ,” Junmyeon argues, pointing an accusatory finger. “That’s far more rare.”

Baekhyun grins. “Spoken like a true lawyer after all.” He shrugs, fiddling with a coaster on the table between his still-bruised knuckles. “I know him because we made out once and I gave him my business card instead of my number which he called in order to help him make bail.”

Junmyeon stares at Baekhyun flatly. “Ha.”

Baekhyun’s smile shows off every single tooth, even the elongated canines. “I know him because my brother was his dealer for a little while, and Jongdae tried to get into my pants for free weed.” Junmyeon can’t even say he’s surprised at any of this information, really. “Then we just… I dunno. Became friends?”

Junmyeon opens his mouth to ask if Jongdae actually got into Baekhyun’s pants or not, but he’s cut off by said tiefling dumping three beers on the table. “Whatcha talkin’ bout?”

“Have you hit on all your friends or are we just special?” Junmyeon asks, reaching for his glass sourly. Jongdae winks.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He kind of would, if only because there’s a small part of Junmyeon that’s still hopelessly crushing on the pretty tiefling with a good tongue, but luckily the sane, rational part of Junmyeon’s mind knows that he and Jongdae would be a fucking disaster in any combination. Jongdae was born to raise hell, literally, not be in a committed relationship with an ex-witch turned lawyer who can’t even handle it when somebody puts their bag on top of his on locker room benches at the gym, let alone maintain a relationship. They’d be their own special type of hell.

“Didn’t you know, Junmyeon?” Baekhyun leans forward with his chin on his hands. “All tieflings are _horn_ -y.”

Junmyeon bursts into laughter before he can stop himself, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. Jongdae just looks distinctly disgusted, horns in question glistening in the low light of the bar.

“Yeah yeah never heard that one before,” he grumbles, and it’s nice, Junmyeon thinks, to see Jongdae losing for once. He’s never really met any of Jongdae’s friends before Baekhyun, and while Junmyeon had thought it was just because Jongdae wasn’t capable of having any, maybe it’s just because he hates losing too. “You two are a match made in hell, I regret introducing you.”

Baekhyun and Junmyeon exchange a look. “Bailing someone out of jail hardly counts as a meet and greet,” Junmyeon remarks dryly.

“Eh, close enough.” Jongdae waves his hands. “Most of my good friends are people I met at the overnight precinct jail. I think police stations are where all the magic happens.”

“Yeah but you’re a fucking freak,” Baekhyun retorts, the words Junmyeon was thinking exactly.

“Rather that than be a boring person!!”

Baekhyun just shakes his head fondly, and makes shy eye-contact with Junmyeon across the table, glancing up through pretty eyelashes and long, dirty blonde bangs. _You put up with this too_? Junmyeon nods grievously in agreement, and Baekhyun’s eyes crinkle as he smiles.

Junmyeon takes a long mouthful of beer.

Baekhyun and Jongdae discuss music from artists Junmyeon has never heard of, and then they just talk about… random things. What being a lawyer is like --hardly as fanciful as it looks-- how Baekhyun’s job-hunting is going --since he can’t work at the commune anymore he needs a good backup, but with the list of criminal charges he has it’s not easy-- and whether or not Jongdae is actually the antichrist. (He claims he isn’t, because technically his great grandfather is the one who summoned the demon and now Jongdae’s family is stuck with the curse, but Baekhyun and Junmyeon make knowing eye contact thinking otherwise.)

It’s really nice, to just talk and hang out with people who aren’t lawyers or snakes --which tend to fall into the same category, especially in Joohyun’s case-- nice to talk about daily, normal things rather than politics or work or the high societal life. There’s a secret as to why Junmyeon puts up with Jongdae’s shit despite complaining about it constantly, despite the fact that they come from two entirely different worlds, despite Jongdae’s slight insanity, and it’s this: Jongdae makes Junmyeon feel normal.

Even though he’s a tiefling with a penchant for illegal magical murals whose enchanted eyes follow you as you walk past, Jongdae treats Junmyeon like a normal friend and not a wealthy ex-witch turned lawyer who’s just another rung in the ladder to climb. Jongdae treats Junmyeon like a normal fucking friend who he goes out drinking with every other week and asks for favours because that’s what friends are for --that’s why Junmyeon never insists he repay them, that’s why he agrees in the first place.

And Baekhyun helps too, now, even as he talks about living at the commune and Junmyeon compares the differences in their lives because it’s what he was raised to do, farmhanding fields versus private tutors and chauffeurs, always finding a way to put himself above others, but he knows Baekhyun isn’t comparing. Baekhyun doesn’t care that Junmyeon is rich or an ex-witch or even his lawyer, he just rests his chin in his palm and listens uncharacteristically patiently and laughs at all of Junmyeon’s lame jokes while Jongdae complains. He’s different to Jongdae, though, softer and less manic, even if Junmyeon knows there’s a wolf underneath all that smooth skin. It itches at Junmyeon’s mind like a rash he can’t scratch, how much he wants to tear away Baekhyun’s barking exterior to find the animal that bites beneath.

Junmyeon blinks, shaking away the thoughts. It’s probably all the tequila Jongdae had ordered in the last round going straight to his head.

Jongdae pays their tab --a fucking Christmas miracle; Junmyeon has to stop himself from gawking-- and they stumble their way out drunkenly onto the street, giggling about something or other. Baekhyun is a clingy drunk, wrapping his arms around Junmyeon and Jongdae without concern, and Junmyeon doesn’t care, because he’s a pliant drunk. Jongdae lives eight blocks down in a one-room apartment that always smells like mould but is surprisingly clean. Except, Junmyeon realises as they fumble in and he spots all the blankets on the couch, Baekhyun lives here now too.

“Cons of living with a werewolf: they pee on everything,” Jongdae starts, as Baekhyun makes a high-pitched, offended noise that tells Junmyeon Jongdae is probably full of shit. “Pros to living with a werewolf--” Jongdae holds up a small zip-lock bag of weed.

Junmyeon sighs. “Later,” he slurs, directed at Baekhyun. “We’re going to talk about how I need you to not add possession charges to the list.”

“So it’s okay so long as I don’t get caught, right?” Baekhyun teases, and he’s way, way too close and Junmyeon is way, way too drunk so he pushes him back a little, just lightly, the slightest press into his soft stomach and Baekhyun pulls away obediently like a good dog.

Junmyeon sighs in lieu of an answer. Baekhyun’s mouth stretches open wider.

Jongdae rolls joints like it’s an art form, so careful and precise it’s a little enrapturing to watch his tiny baby hands put everything in place, grinding the weed carefully before straightening it out along the paper.

“Hey Myeonnie do you have a business card on hand?” he asks, and Junmyeon blinks in confusion before pulling out one from his wallet to hand to Jongdae, who tears it in half and rolls it up perfectly to make a filter. Of course.

Once he’s done rolling, he twists the end and folds it over and hands the joint to Baekhyun, since it’s his weed. Baekhyun lights it with the same silver lighter that had been confiscated at the precinct and Junmyeon watches with drunken fascination as Baekhyun’s long, pretty fingers handle the joint delicately between his equally pretty lips. Junmyeon’s throat feels dry.

As they smoke and pass the joint around, Junmyeon somehow ends up on Baekhyun’s blanket pile with Baekhyun unable to sit still on the sofa and Jongdae lying on the floor with his hands on his stomach, unable to stop laughing. Baekhyun can’t stop fiddling with his phone to play the right sort of songs through a cheap-ass bluetooth speaker, and Junmyeon just can’t stop watching him.

Baekhyun exhales his next puff in a ring of smoke. “Nice,” Jongdae adds from the floor.

“I never thought I’d get high with my lawyer,” Baekhyun says randomly, as he hands the joint to Junmyeon. “Like, Jongdae usually gets me into weird shit, but this kind of feels like the weirdest.”

Junmyeon snorts, half out of amusement, half out of relatability.

“Are you kidding me? Junmyeonnie’s a freak.” Jongdae’s tiny hands reach for something in the air that isn’t actually there. “He’s a lawyer they do cocaine like, all the time.”

“Very untrue,” Junmyeon argues, handing Jongdae the blunt as he does so. “We only bring it out for special occasions.”

Baekhyun bursts into laughter at that, Jongdae joining in. “What, like the nice silverware?” Baekhyun goads. “You guys have a christmas party and you’re like _finally, good china and cocaine_.”

Junmyeon giggles, a noise he wouldn’t make if he wasn’t high as a kite. “Pretty much.”

“I bet they chop it up with their platinum credit cards,” Jongdae jokes.

“No no no,” Baekhyun argues. “Their business cards. It’s like that scene in american psycho but they’re snorting coke at the same time.”

Junmyeon laughs despite himself. “You guys know nothing about lawyers, do you?”

Baekhyun grins so that his elongated fangs show. “Nope.”

Jongdae starts dozing off as his high wears down because he’s a sleepy drunk and the weed doesn’t help, and Baekhyun just starts humming along to songs Junmyeon doesn’t recognise with a sweet voice that betrays his sharp exterior. He’s hanging upside-down on the sofa, feet over the back and head at its feet, and Junmyeon watches him conduct a four-four signature in the air with his toes in muted, dopey interest. Something about Baekhyun is oddly captivating; Junmyeon the lawyer thinks it will make him a good winner of the jury, charismatic, Junmyeon the person who likes pineapple on pizza doesn’t know what he’s meant to do with it.

“So you’re a lawyer,” Baekhyun starts, loudly, mouth rounder than it needs to be as he elongates each vowel. “But you…….. do drugs.”

Junmyeon giggles. “Knowing how the law works and obeying it are two very different things.” He could go into how the criminalisation of drugs actually just creates underground empires, prevents safety regulations, and helps oppress minorities… but he won’t. Junmyeon is kind of a sleepy high type too. “If anything, knowing how it works teaches me exactly which parts should be broken.”

Baekhyun just tips his head a little to the side as best he can, hanging upside down like this. His eyes are dark from his pupils dilating, but they still bore through Junmyeon curiously. It makes him shiver, but only just.

“So you’re a lawyer,” Baekhyun says again. “But you break laws and hang out with criminals.” He laughs, even though Junmyeon doesn’t get the joke, frowning. “And you used to be a witch but now you’re not, and you like pineapple on pizza. What other surprises do you keep up your sleeve, Kim Junmyeon?”

“Nothing,” he mumbles. “I’m a witch, not a magician.”

Baekhyun’s smile shows his canines. “I thought you were a lawyer.”

Junmyeon flicks his fingers in Baekhyun’s direction as if shaking droplets of water from them, causing Baekhyun’s lips to transform into a shut zip. He blinks in confusion, startled, then re-opens the zip, the spell breaking away in the process and putting his mouth back in place.

“You should use that one on Jongdae a lot more,” is all Baekhyun says, causing Junmyeon to laugh.

“I don’t like using magic that much,” he admits, conjuring a few lazy lights to float above his head. He rearranges them absentmindedly until they’re shaped like Baekhyun’s smile, all rounded square lips and pointed triangle teeth. “It feels like giving in.” He especially doesn’t like using magic on Jongdae, who carries the demonic curse of his bloodline like a proud mantle even as he’s shunned by ninety percent of the magical society, reforming social standards or not. Junmyeon’s mother would freak if she knew he spent a good chunk of his time with cursed blood, and it’s probably another reason as to why Junmyeon hangs out with Jongdae so much, not that he’d ever tell him that. Junmyeon is petty on a good day, but Jongdae doesn’t need to know his use to Junmyeon surpasses friendship.

“But you can’t give it up either, right?” Baekhyun shifts until he’s sitting upright, uncharacteristically serious, voice stern. “Because it’s a part of you.”

One by one, the lights flicker away, and Junmyeon nods, slowly. It’s not like he’s never told anyone this before, more so that he has and they just haven’t understood; not like Baekhyun did, just now, so easily like it was nothing. It’s probably a mixture of the pot and Baekhyun’s pointed questions making Junmyeon talk so freely but. Hm.

“Why did you become a lawyer, Kim Junmyeon?” Baekhyun asks, and he has a cushion in his hand, spinning it idly, twisting the fabric the same way Junmyeon’s insides are contorting. It’s not the first time he’s been asked this --no, the first time was his mother as he changed his majors from the mystic artes to magical multiculturalism, and enrolled in law school, her brow furrowed and lips pinched-- and it won’t be last, but Junmyeon sometimes wishes he had a better answer for it, some noble reason or deep ambition. No, Junmyeon didn’t become a lawyer to help people, because sometimes he’s just putting criminals back out on the street, and he didn’t become a lawyer to seek justice, or prosecute, or even for the money, because he’d been born into wealth and would have inherited it no matter what he’d done.

Junmyeon closes his eyes as the dizziness of watching Baekhyun twist the cushion makes the whole room spin.

“I did it to become something I wasn’t meant to be,” Junmyeon answers simply, a haphazard, vague reply, but Baekhyun nods like he understands all the same.

“I get that,” he says, oddly quiet as he stares at his hands. “I really, really do.”

  
  
  
  


Junmyeon hadn’t registered falling asleep, but he does register waking up, head pounding from a hangover because high-Junmyeon can never be trusted to drink water, the asshole.

Junmyeon groans as he sits up, squinting at the bright light of the living room. Baekhyun had somehow ended up on the floor, a blanket thrown lazily over him, and he wriggles around in his sleep, making whimpering noises. It’s… cute.

“Good morning sunshine,” Jongdae greets as he walks from the little kitchenette, grinning and holding out a mug of coffee. Jongdae, being the embodiment of something people are taught to hate, doesn’t get hangovers. The asshole. Junmyeon accepts the coffee with a noncommittal grunt. “Sleep well?”

Junmyeon grunts again in lieu of an answer.

As the coffee hits his tongue, his brain suddenly de-fogs, stomach no longer wishing to regurgitate all its contents. “Did you enchant this?” he asks Jongdae, dapping his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

“Junmyeon I’m literally cursed. I’ll enchant something if I wanted your organs to bleed out, man.” …Fair enough, Junmyeon puts the coffee mug down warily. “It’s pre-enchanted post-hangover cure coffee, a work in progress from one of my friends.” Junmyeon squints, waiting for the reason why it’s a work in progress. “It doesn’t get rid of hangover symptoms, just postpones them for a few hours, so unfortunately you’ll have to feel shit eventually.”

That’d do it. Junmyeon grunts again, rubbing his temple. At least this way he’ll be able to make it back to his apartment without barfing in an Uber.

“I should go,” Junmyeon stands, running a hand through his hair and noticing that it’s greasy again. Damn it he _just_ washed it. He grabs his jacket off the back of the couch, fishing for his phone. “I have to meet my mother this afternoon.”

“Ouch,” Jongdae says, from where he’s currently pouring Devil-Os into a bowl. “High tea with mommy dearest?”

“And all her friends.” Junmyeon grimaces at the flood of notifications waiting for him, all of them from work. “Thanks for last night, you’ll probably owe me more.”

“Wha-- why!?” Jongdae whines, indignant.

“Because I’m working an entire case for you pro-bono,” Junmyeon calls from the door, slipping on his shoes.

“No, you’re working it for Hyunnie--”

At his name, Baekhyun stirs. “Hhughngd??” he asks intelligently, eyes fluttering open. “You leavin’ already witch-not-a-doctor?”

Junmyeon ignores that nickname. “Yes. I’ll talk to you soon, Baekhyun.”

“We should hang out again too,” Baekhyun yawns lazily. “When you’re not wearing Gucci.”

Junmyeon just gives him an amused smile, shaking his head as he opens the door and walks out. “Sure thing.”

“I refuse to be indebted to you, Kim Junmyeon!”

Junmyeon just winks at Jongdae as he leaves, smiling to himself. Ending on a victory always feels good.

  
  
  
  


Junmyeon forgets all about his delayed hangover symptoms until his mother is offering him a finger sandwich and suddenly he wants to puke at the thought --then again, maybe that’s just his hatred of finger foods; they’re all so tiny and pointless, it’s not filling at all.

‘Fuck you Kim Jongdae’ ought to be Junmyeon’s mantra, at this point.

“No thank you, I’m fine,” he says with a polite smile. His mother purses her lips, even as she puts the small plate back on the tiered rack.

“You should eat more Junmyeon,” she tells him, stroking her familiar’s soft brown fur, the little demon of a cat that it is. “You’re looking a little thin.”

Junmyeon isn’t thin, he has carefully nurtured abs and less than ten-percent body fat, it’s more an issue of him never being enough for his mother no matter what he does.

Junmyeon’s smile grows frayed, his mother’s friends from the witch council thankfully paying no attention to their conversation, although her familiar’s glare is present.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

His mother asks him about work, displaying no genuine interest as he mentions his clients, no pride at his pro-bono work, and mostly distaste about it all. It’s a usual routine.

Junmyeon tunes out the witch chatter his mother forces him to listen to most weekends --some horrible plan she has in her head that if Junmyeon hears the council argue about whether brooms are in style again or not he’ll suddenly want to go back to college and re-do his degree. Looking at his mother’s feline familiar makes him think about Baekhyun, idly, instead. Wonders if Jongdae gave him the same shitty coffee concoction, wonders when he’s going to fill out that paperwork for his case. It’s a fleeting thought, really, Junmyeon’s gaze drawn towards the tall, arching window as he does so, overlooking the perfect manicured gardens beneath, but it’s the one that sticks with him the most.

  
  
  
  


Junmyeon gets Baekhyun’s pro-bono paperwork all sorted, and Baekhyun texts him to let him know he has a court date two weeks after the temporary coffee cure incident. Junmyeon tells him to come into his office at Xiumin-Lu at nine on a Tuesday.

 _cant do nine,_ is Baekhyun’s response. _im a werewolf. I wake up at midday._

Junmyeon laughs at his phone despite himself. _Ten, then. That’s your best offer_.

_I hate being friends with a lawyer. I just want to win arguments :(_

Junmyeon takes that as agreement, and Baekhyun shows up at ten-fifteen, dressed in a hoodie and jeans with holes in them and rolled up cuffs that show off banana-patterned socks beneath like the criminal, gay werewolf that he is.

He gives a little wave from behind the glass doors of Junmyeon’s tiny office after Yerim announces his arrival, and Junmyeon gestures for him to come through.

“So this is the great Kim Junmyeon’s headquarters, huh?” Baekhyun doesn’t sit down, instead wandering around the tiny space, leaning on the edge of Junmyeon’s desk and fiddling with the tiny bobble head of a medusa he got once from the office Kris-Kringle. (Inevitably Joohyun’s tastes, not that she’s ever admitted to it.) “Cute,” Baekhyun remarks.

Junmyeon places his hand over the figurine to stop its head from bobbing. “I need you to sign some papers,” he says, straight to the point. Lawyers charge by the hour, but Junmyeon isn’t charging Baekhyun, so he’d much rather get this over and done with so he can start charging the next person. “And we need to talk about how you want your defense to be made.”

Baekhyun hums noncommittally, throwing himself into the chair so that he’s curled up on it, legs over the armrest splayed haphazardly, filling out all the space in Junmyeon’s office. It’s an effortless motion, no thought put behind it, and it’s so distractingly handsome Junmyeon’s mouth goes dry. Shit.

“My trial isn’t for like, another three months though man.” Baekhyun stretches his neck a little. “Can’t you procrastinate?”

“No,” Junmyeon replies simply. “I need to be as ready as I can now in case the ongoing investigation against you starts putting the eggs in Hyukwoo’s basket.”

That seems to have Baekhyun’s attention, and he scowls at the mention. “Fine. What’s the plan, Myeonnie?”

Junmyeon opens his mouth to argue against the nickname, but decides it would be fruitless. Judging by Baekhyun’s knowing smirk, he knows it would be too. “I’ve been thinking.”

Baekhyun arches an eyebrow at Junmyeon’s pause. “Go on.”

“Obviously we’re going to have to prove it was… a Proving,” Junmyeon says carefully. “So we’ll need at least one witness on our side, anyone who is able to plea for your defense.”

Baekhyun makes an uncomfortable face. “I can’t go near the commune.”

“No,” Junmyeon agrees. “But I can. If you can get me just one name, I can have them sign onto your case as a witness.”

Baekhyun scrubs at his face, uncomfortable. “I’ll… think about it. They’re werewolves, y’know? So they’re loyal to the head alphas. I’ll need to work out who’s the easiest to convince to switch sides.” Junmyeon nods in agreement, biting his lip. Baekhyun looks at him. “What else?”

“What?” Junmyeon blinks.

“What else did you want to ask?” Baekhyun shifts, sitting up a little more straight with his knees far apart and his elbows on his thighs. Fuck he’s effortlessly hot at this stage, and Junmyeon decides he’s going to need more sleep if he’s suddenly thinking about how fuckable his werewolf clients are in the middle of meetings. “I can tell you’re not done yet.”

Junmyeon kisses his teeth. “I was going to ask how you’d feel if I brought wolf social politics into this… I have a friend, at The Daily Times, who might be able to make this case public.”

Baekhyun stares at Junmyeon. “And what does that mean?”

Junmyeon clears his throat, fiddles with his cufflink. “Well, it would entail… a creative spin on your narrative, so-to-speak. If we can twist the story of an oppressed omega trying to rise up as the underdog only to be crushed by an unfair dictatorship, then… the jury will eat it up. The people will eat it up.” He tugs the hems of his sleeves back into place. “Juries aren’t meant to know about cases beforehand, but sometimes it’s inevitable. It would put you under a spotlight I’m not sure you’d be comfortable with, however.”

Baekhyun’s face appears conflicted, drumming his fingers on the armrest. “I’m not a sympathy piece, Junmyeon, I’m a criminal and a werewolf. No one is going to care about me, underdog or not.”

“I think you’d be surprised,” Junmyeon offers soothingly, “in a world of expectations, how many people will relate to your story of wanting to be something you’re told not to be. Werewolf or not, Baekhyun, what you have to say is important.”

Baekhyun stares at Junmyeon, face impassive, and he braces himself for the blow, for the bark or bite or maybe both, but then Baekhyun’s shoulders just drop, and he says, “Okay.”

“Okay,” he repeats, a little firmer. “Y’know what? Fuck it. I _want_ my story to be told, I am so sick of being shoved into some stupid oppressive category just because of how I look. I’m pretty sure the hierarchy worked really well when packs actually needed to separate the strong from the weak as they fought dinosaurs or whatever but now it’s just some sort of mix between homophobia and misogyny that categorizes who’s an omega and not so let’s fucking do it. Let me meet your journalist friend and let the whole fucking city know that werewolf culture is full of shit.”

Junmyeon smiles despite himself, and laughs a little, unable to help as he raises his hand to cover his mouth. Baekhyun just looks at him quizzically, tilting his head like a dog. “What?”

“Nothing,” Junmyeon insists, smiling to himself. “I’ll give him a call, try and arrange a meeting between you two.” He swallows, licking his lips hastily. “I won’t let Hyukwoo win this. I hope you know that, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun’s smile is timid and soft when Baekhyun himself is anything but. “I do now.”

  
  
  
  


Zhang Yixing is a hard fish to catch. Junmyeon chalks it up to the vampire thing.

He rubs at his eyes sleepily as he waits, wishing there were a spell for this sort of situation. Junmyeon knows how to turn owls into lamps but doesn’t have a magical substitute for caffeine. Ridiculous.

His phone buzzes, a text from Baekhyun, one single name: _Jung Soojung_.

That’s a start.

Yixing shows up at the bar half an hour after they’d agreed to meet --Junmyeon had been perfectly on time, of course-- looking wide awake and far too handsome in his Hugo Boss suit as he straightens out his blazer, spotting Junmyeon by the bar and giving him a lazy wave. This isn’t Junmyeon’s favourite bar like the one downtown that Jongdae had taken him to, with tequila specials and shitty tap beer, rather the sort of quiet, business-y place Junmyeon takes clients and co-workers too, or in Yixing’s case, business prospects.

It’s very important that Zhang Yixing remains a business prospect.

“Hello,” Yixing greets, sliding into the seat next to Junmyeon. “Long time no see, huh?”

“It’s only been two months.” Junmyeon fiddles with the olive in his martini. He’d felt like ordering something fun to keep his mind off of his extreme anxiety, but he’d forgotten how much martinis taste like shit. “So melodramatic.”

“It’s in my blood,” Yixing teases, and Junmyeon laughs despite himself because… damn, that was a good one. As a vampire, Yixing doesn’t have blood, but, as a vampire, all self-loathing and gothic, being melodramatic really _is_ in their blood. Yixing flags down the bartender and orders a plasma cocktail. “So what sort of article do you have for me this time? I doubt you wanted to just chat.”

It’s true, but he doesn’t have to be so blunt about it. Junmyeon winces, having always been one for subtleties in business, bluntness in pleasure. It is very important that Zhang Yixing remains in the business category, or else they’ll go back to being fuckbuddies that were sort of dating and Junmyeon will break Yixing’s heart all over again because he’s so perfect Junmyeon can’t do it. Yixing is the sort of person who brings out Junmyeon’s subtlety and class with his fancy suits and smooth charm and he’s the sort of person Junmyeon could introduce to his mother and she wouldn’t hate him; which is exactly why Junmyeon can never fall in love with him.

“It’s about a werewolf,” Junmyeon says, and Yixing arches an eyebrow. “It involves social injustice, don’t worry, I know that’s your favourite.”

“It is,” Yixing replies dryly. “But werewolves… not so much.”

Ah right, vampire. Long-lasting feud. Nobody knows what that’s about either, maybe they both just want to be the _real_ creatures of the night.

“For someone who writes a lot of socio-political pieces that’s a bit prejudiced, isn’t it?”

Yixing’s face twists in reluctance as he accepts his blood cocktail and drinks from it. “Old habits die hard.”

“Good thing you’re already dead.” Junmyeon pats Yixing’s shoulder. “So what do you say, interested?”

“You’re going to have to tell me more than that,” Yixing replies, glancing at Junmyeon’s hand briefly --Junmyeon pulls it back abruptly.

“It involves Provings and an omega overthrowing the balance only to be reprimanded for it,” he manages, the most he can disclose without breaking confidentiality hexes he’d signed up for the moment he’d taken Baekhyun’s case. That can only be broken if Baekhyun tells Yixing himself. Junmyeon huffs. “That’s the most I can offer you.” Any other attempt at telling Yixing will just result in Junmyeon’s tongue turning to jelly for as long as he tries to form the words. It’s not a fun sensation, really.

Yixing hums. “Let me think about it,” he replies, twirling his glass. “You do realise I’m one of the most reputable journalists in the country and not a convenient parlour trick for you to one-up a case, right?”

“Of course,” Junmyeon scoffs. “I’m a witch, not a magician.”

Yixing smiles, dimple and all. Funny, Junmyeon thinks, just briefly, Baekhyun would have reminded him he’s a lawyer. “You’re a selfish asshole,” Yixing corrects, voice laced with fondness, despite the cutting angle of his words. He sighs mockingly. “But you’re depressingly loyal and something tells me this article is about more than just the case its attached to.” Junmyeon swallows, feeling transparent. “Then again, one drink in and you still haven’t asked me how I am.”

Much easier. Junmyeon offers a flimsy smile.

“You have an eternity of smalltalk ahead of you. I thought I wouldn’t waste your time.”

Yixing just shakes his head, laughing quietly to himself. He’d only been turned a few years before he’d met Junmyeon.

“I have an eternity of time to waste on smalltalk, too.”

Junmyeon’s lips twitch. “I don’t, though.”

“See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Yixing says, poking Junmyeon’s shoulder, and it’s not business, exactly, but it’s not pleasure, either. It’s… nice. Familiar. “Selfish asshole.”

Junmyeon just laughs.

  
  
  
  


Junmyeon procrastinates dealing with meeting Jung Soojung like his life depends on it, busying himself with other client work and… more work. When he isn’t working --once every blue moon-- he’s usually getting wasted with Jongdae. Sometimes Baekhyun is there. Sometimes Jongdae isn’t.

It’s not the first client Junmyeon is friends with; there have been other instances of friends in sticky situations needing a little help, or sometimes you spend so much time with someone it’s kind of inevitable. Baekhyun is some weird mix between both, and while they never exclusively initiate anything with each other --beyond dealing with Baekhyun’s case, of course-- they do just… end up hanging out a lot, mostly because of Jongdae, demonspawn that he is.

Baekhyun is easy to hang out with, because Junmyeon finds they just… understand each other, conversations toppling over one another as Baekhyun’s plight as the only male omega in his pack somehow helps Junmyeon talk about what it was like to be a budding witch prodigy who didn’t want to study magic. One night they stay up until five a.m on Jongdae’s couch just talking as Junmyeon casts little useless spells here and there just to make Baekhyun laugh, and it’s worth the shadows beneath Junmyeon’s eyes the next morning and the half a tube of concealer it takes to cover them up.

Baekhyun is just enjoyable to hang out with, despite everything, funny and charismatic and lively, but dangerous, too, and not just because he’s a criminal. Junmyeon knows infatuated affections when he sees them the same way he saw Jongdae licking salt and limes at a bar and thought _oh fuck_. They’re familiar to him, if not unwanted, but they can pass in time. Once Baekhyun’s case is over Junmyeon can disconnect himself from it and move on.

As it stands, he’s currently knee-deep in it. Literally. Junmyeon grimaces at the mud beneath his shoes as he tugs at the hems of his pants, hoping not to dirty them; they’re Balenciaga, after all.

The Half-Moon commune, as Baekhyun had bittersweetly referred to it, is sort of a dump. It’s muddy and smells like fertiliser and Junmyeon grimaces at the brown dirt smeared along the bottom of his car from driving along the gravel. It’s nothing more than a cluster of rickety wooden houses surrounding a few plot of lands connected by the very same path that had ruined Junmyeon’s car. He grimaces.

“Who are you?” somebody asks immediately, walking out of the house Junmyeon had pulled up to --the one where Baekhyun had said he’d find Soojung. White paint, carnations out front, all women, judging by the lady currently glaring daggers at Junmyeon’s Burberry coat behind a box of pink and white blooms.

“Kim Junmyeon,” Junmyeon introduces, walking up to the patio and offering out his hand. “I’m here to meet with Soojung?”

The woman in questions snarls at the gesture, eyes flashing red. Woah, okay there alpha. Junmyeon promptly pulls his hand back, discreetly wiping the sweat off on the inside of his pocket.

“Calm down Song Qian,” another girl calls, smiling lopsidedly. “Soojunggie told us he was coming, remember?”

Song Qian softens at that, and it’s quite the dichotomy, Junmyeon thinks, between the territorial wolf and the woman in front of him with a congenial smile on her face. He wonders if all werewolves are like that; filled with duality between the animal and the human, wearing both like a mask.

“Right,” Song Qian tucks some hair behind her ear, stepping through to the house. “She’s in her room.”

“I’ll show you,” the other girl offers, beckoning for Junmyeon to follow her up the stairs once he’s gently pulled off his mud-covered loafers with a grimace, lining them up neatly on the rack. “I’m Amber, by the way.” She sticks out her hand as they’re walking up.

“Junmyeon,” Junmyeon replies. She’s much more polite than her alpha counterpart --maybe a pack beta? They’re meant to be polite or something… right?

“Song Qian’s only like that with non-pack, y’know, especially men since…” she trails off, shrugging. “I guess the witch thing set off instincts.”

Junmyeon bristles immediately. “I’m just a lawyer,” he recites carefully. Amber laughs amicably, patting his shoulder.

“Say that to all the magic clinging to you like a needy ex.” Junmyeon pales, wondering how obvious it is. He knows he has an affinity for magic, has ever since he was five years old and his mother had him drawing out runes on the hardwood floors. Teachers never had anything but praise for Junmyeon’s affinity to the magical artes. But what had once been a point of pride quickly soured into resignation over the years, as if Junmyeon showed no promise past it.

Soojung is laying on the bed when Amber knocks and waits for a response before entering, announcing that Baekhyun’s lawyer is here. She’s sitting on her stomach on top of her bed watching music videos on her laptop that blast out loud as she twirls an earphone in her hand. Jung Soojung is, by all means, not what Junmyeon had expected, young, ridiculously pretty, and a lot… cleaner, than you’d think, for a half-wolf that lives on a pot-growing cult farm.

“So,” Soojung sits up, legs over the edge of the bed as she snaps the laptop shut behind her. No formalities, no hospitality, Junmyeon doesn’t think he could feel less welcomed if he tried. “You’re Baekhyunnie’s lawyer, huh?”

The familiarity with which she speaks sparks curiosity in Junmyeon’s body, but he quickly squashes it.

“You know why I’m here,” Junmyeon says, smiling politely, and Soojung frowns at him. They’d spoken over the phone, under great discretion, of course, and Soojung had agreed to talk to Junmyeon only a) in person b) at the commune and c) if Baekhyun didn’t come. She’d been insistent about the last fact, almost as if she didn’t want Baekhyun to break the agreements of his bail. It’s that same concern, consideration --and now, familiarity-- that Junmyeon is pegging on to get Soojung to sign on as a witness.

Soojung juts her chin at Amber, signalling for her to leave. She shuts the door behind her with a quiet click. Soojung gestures for the desk chair for Junmyeon to sit, it squeaks upon contact. This probably isn’t the first situation Junmyeon imagines when he thinks of himself in a beautiful girl’s bedroom, but here he is. Junmyeon pulls out the manilla folder with the assorted papers.

“Just sign this, agreeing to testify in Baekhyun’s defense.” Soojung frowns at the folder, making no move to take it. “All you have to do is tell the truth.”

“The truth?” Soojung parrots.

“That it was a Proving,” Junmyeon supplies gently. “That it was a matter of customs and traditions and not assault.”

Soojung swallows, evidently conflicted.

“Would I have to take the stand?” she questions quietly.

“Yes.” A written testimony is by no means enough in a case like this. “But it’s easy, really. Nothing more than the truth.”

Twisted versions of it that Junmyeon will be rehearsing with her beforehand, but Soojung doesn’t need to know the details until she’s signed the paper in front of her.

“I don’t know…” She rubs the back of her neck. “I-- will it even help? One testimony against the rest…”

“More than you’d think,” Junmyeon implores, doing his best sympathetic face. Not that he’s _not_ sympathetic, but he hates the idea of somebody throwing their own packmate, brother, friend, under the bus. Junmyeon wouldn’t say he has a sense of justice, or a strong moral compass between right and wrong, because a lawyer can’t afford to have such a thing. But he does have an attachment to Baekhyun, and therefore a semblance of loyalty. The oppressed omega that he is, deserves freedom, and more than that, _Baekhyun_ deserves freedom.

“If I sign this,” Soojung starts, biting her lip. She’s rather timid, despite cool exterior, leading Junmyeon to think that she must be an omega. But then, why was she at the Proving? “I’m aligning myself against the pack.”

“Do you really want to follow a pack that treats the value of their members based on outdated rank?”

Soojung looks up then, and her eyes flash red --defensive, almost, of her family. Not an omega. but an alpha; Junmyeon can’t say he’s not surprised.

“What would you know about our pack?” Soojung sneers; Junmyeon doesn’t rise to the bait.

“Not much,” he admits, because he doesn’t really need to. “...Except that they’re willing to put an innocent man behind bars just to save their own outdated traditions.”

“It’s not like that,” Soojung argues, shoulders falling in resignation. “Baekhyun isn’t meant to be an alpha, all he does is laze around and smoke pot all day. He can’t lead the pack properly, he’s not built for responsibility.”

Yeah, that sounds like Baekhyun, Junmyeon has to admit, but there’s also a sharper side to Baekhyun, one that reads people easily and has an odd clarity of mind. That side to him isn’t unfit to lead, so to speak, not that Junmyeon has any idea of what leading even entails in this situation.

“Do you really believe that?” Junmyeon asks Soojung, after a moment of silence. “Or is that just what you’ve been told?”

Conflict passes over Soojung’s face immediately and abruptly, contorting her perfect features. She looks at Junmyeon, once, then the manilla folder in her hands, attempting to pick a side, to no avail.

“You have an opportunity for them to both walk away free from this, Soojung,” Junmyeon tries, hoping his good little lawyer act is convincing. He’s probably going to go to hell for not being like, a genuinely good person but hey, at least he’ll see Jongdae there --probably on the throne. “Whether Baekhyun takes new status or not, he doesn’t deserve to go to jail for it.”

Soojung softens at that, crestfallen. “You’re right,” she admits softly, and Junmyeon watches her resolve steel. “You know what? You’re _right_ . Baekhyun doesn’t deserve to go to jail for something like this, this is _crazy_.” Finally, some common sense. Junmyeon relaxes as Soojung just opens the manilla folder. “Where should I sign?”

  
  
  
  


Yixing agrees to the interview just as Junmyeon has finished up all the paperwork about Soojung signing on as his witness. He agrees to meet Baekhyun, yes, but not where Junmyeon proposes they do it.

“No,” Yixing says over the phone. “I’m not conducting an hour long personal interview in your cramped little office, Junmyeon. We have to have somewhere comfortable and intimate.”

Junmyeon rolls his eyes. Yixing won’t do a public space because it’s informal, can’t do his own tiny little cubicle, and insists on somewhere personal and intimate to add to a photo Yixing will be attaching to the article. Junmyeon had forgotten somewhere along the way how thorough and pedantic Yixing can be when it comes to his own work, and it’s exasperating alongside impressive. Jongdae’s own mess of a mouldy apartment is out of the question, which is how Junmyeon, despite himself, ends up agreeing to having the interview here.

Here, being his apartment. His very personal, very no-outsiders-allowed space.

Except Yixing argues that it’s intimate and has good lighting, and Junmyeon is too desperate for this article to tell him no. Curse the old Junmyeon who was horny enough to ever let Yixing even see his place.

As it stands, Junmyeon spends his Saturday morning cram-cleaning and feeling ridiculous. It’s not like Junmyeon is messy or disorganised or anything --he knows exactly where everything is, he promises-- he just… likes living with things all over the place. It gives it character.

But it won’t do for a photoshoot. Or guests. Junmyeon starts off with a few basic spells so the dishes clean themselves and the dust disappears, but magic these days is… unfamiliar to Junmyeon, rusted with disuse, and he’s spent so much of his life weaning himself over all bigger spells that he runs out of energy before the cleaning is even done, forced to do the rest by hand. It sucks, but what Junmyeon hates more than scrubbing the toilet is the way he feels himself missing magic, in the weaker moments. It’s a part of him, and Junmyeon can never deny that, so it sucks that he had to give it up just because apparently having something means having to _be_ something.

The doorman buzzes to let him know a ‘ _young man’_ is here to see him, and Junmyeon tells him to send him up.

Baekhyun wolf whistles as soon as Junmyeon opens the front door. “Nice.”

“...Thank… you?” he tries, unsure of how else to respond. He spots Jongdae with raised eyebrows behind Baekhyun, impressed. Junmyeon scowls immediately. “What’s _he_ doing here?”

“He’s like a parasite I can’t get rid of,” Baekhyun explains offhandedly as he steps through, a cheery Jongdae following behind. “He said he had nothing better to do.”

Junmyeon grimaces. Having Baekhyun and Yixing over was already bad enough, but…

“There’s so much blackmail material in here…” Junmyeon says slowly in realisation, horrified.

Jongdae, who has already quickly crossed the apartment to open Junmyeon’s bedroom door, points at Junmyeon’s giant _Star Wars_ poster and grins saccharinely.

“There sure is.”

Junmyeon snaps his fingers so that the bedroom door slams shut, frowning at Jongdae. The sharp slam wakes Byul up from her spot on the couch immediately, raising her head curiously.

“Who’s this?” Baekhyun coos, sitting on the arm rest and offering out his hand for Byul to sniff. She licks his knuckle easily, and Baekhyun takes it as an invitation to scratch between her ears.

“My familiar,” Junmyeon answers. He pauses. “Ex-familiar,” he quickly corrects. “Byul.” Baekhyun’s smile glows like a thousand suns as he continues patting Byul, and Junmyeon feels nauseous at the sight. “I obviously wasn’t going to send her back.”

He’s _way_ too attached, after all, and Byul seems happy to laze around being a normal ass dog rather than ever help Junmyeon with anything, ever. They’re both winning, which is good, because they share a soul, so they both _really_ like winning.

“Your familiar is a dog?” Jongdae voices. “I’m surprised, I always figured you were a cat person.”

Junmyeon _hmph_ s. They always do. “Any animal can be a familiar, but most witches have a preference towards cats.” Not that Junmyeon had picked a dog to be a controversial piece of shit or anything.

“I’m glad you picked a dog,” Baekhyun adds, lifting Byul up and making baby noises at her, which Byul seems to accept happily as he kisses her nose. What the fuck, she doesn’t even let _Junmyeon_ make baby noises at her. “I don’t like cats.”

Which makes sense because Baekhyun is literally a wolf. It’s amazing how Junmyeon can forget, sometimes, when Baekhyun flashes him a fang-toothed grin like that.

It dissolves away when Byul licks his cheek, and Baekhyun laughs boyishly, sending something uncomfortable plummeting through Junmyeon’s stomach; he pales.

“Wow it looks like she really likes you,” Jongdae tells Baekhyun, before fixing Junmyeon a flat stare. “Hey, don’t you two share a soul--”

The intercom buzzes. “Oh good, Yixing is here!” Junmyeon shouts, maybe a little _too_ loudly, pointedly ignoring Jongdae’s knowing smirk and Baekhyun’s general obliviousness as he rushes to tell the doorman to let Yixing up too. He looks good in jeans and a button up, as casual as always, a duffel bag filled with photography equipment slung over his shoulder. Of course Yixing takes his own photos, because Yixing is more ambitious and self-burdening than he is undead. Junmyeon relaxes at the sight of him all the same, happy to have a buffer as he steps aside to let him through.

“Zhang Yixing, meet Byun Baekhyun. Baekhyun, Yixing.”

Yixing extends his hand. “Pleasure.”

“Likewise.”

“You didn’t mention he was a vampire,” Jongdae speaks up, arms folded as he casually leans against the kitchen counter, smiling. Oh no, Junmyeon knows that look, it’s the same one Jongdae had given _him_ the night he’d stuck his elongated tongue down Junmyeon’s throat.

“I didn’t think it would matter,” Junmyeon replies dryly, causing Baekhyun to look at him suddenly, an unreadable expression across his face.

“No,” Baekhyun agrees. “It doesn’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Yixing quickly apologises, turning to Jongdae. “You are…?”

“Jongdae,” Jongdae offers, shaking Yixing’s hand himself. “Just here for the hell of it. Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Yixing replies with a genuine smile, showing off his fangs, and then Junmyeon is forced to stand there as their handshake continues for an awkwardly long amount of time, the air charged with tension, wondering at what stage his life became so fucking _weird_.

Baekhyun, having happily returned to cooing over Byul, seems completely ignorant of the bizarre sexual tension filling Junmyeon’s apartment right now. He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

They do eventually get started on the interview process, Yixing asking Baekhyun for the rundown of his case while he sets up his camera, answering all the questions Junmyeon legally can’t. It’s effortless, really, the way Yixing gets Baekhyun to be a little more chatty --not that that’s much of an achievement-- familiarising them with each other and helping himself prepare further questions. Yixing didn’t want to go into this like a formal interview, rather have an intimate discussion that will help him assimilate the facts into his article, a personal expose about the unfair ins of werewolf culture. It just adds to arguing his point, after all, making Baekhyun out to be a person first and foremost, rather than a werewolf.

Yixing sets up the easy lighting and uses Junmyeon’s wide thirtieth floor windows to add to it all, as Baekhyun leans against the couch and poses easily while talking, the sunlight glowing through his blonde hair and illuminating him so that he looks oddly soft and angelic. He looks… good, in his oversized tee and tight jeans with pink strawberry-patterned socks peeking out beneath the rolled up cuffs and above battered sneakers with untied laces. Junmyeon excuses himself to the kitchen down the hall to get a glass of water.

Jongdae follows him, of course, long, forked tail flicking mischievously behind him. He glances absentmindedly at the dishes sitting half-finished in the sink, since the self-cleaning spell hadn’t been completed.

“So,” Jongdae starts conversationally as Junmyeon skulls down a whole glass, rocking on his heels. “You and Yixing, huh?”

Junmyeon dribbles water down his chin as he chokes. “Pardon?”

“Call it a devil’s intuition.” Jongdae’s eyes have a terrible, terrible glint to them. “I can’t believe I introduce you to _my_ pretty friends and you’ve taken this long to introduce me to yours.”

“I didn't even invite you.” Junmyeon rubs his temple, feeling a Jongdae Headache™ quickly coming on.

“So you admit it.” Jongdae's grin shows off his fangs. “You think Baekhyun is pretty.”

Junmyeon blinks at the ground, letting that thought filter through.

“Oh, fuck you.”

Jongdae laughs sharply, echoing around the kitchen and making Junmyeon's Jongdae Headache™ worse. Junmyeon pulls a face, disgruntled.

“Wow, not even arguing about it. That's a new one.”

“What’s the point,” Junmyeon bitterly mumbles. A blind bat could tell you Baekhyun is pretty, for fuck’s sake --they can _hear_ his beauty.

Jongdae hums knowingly. “That bad, huh?” Junmyeon looks at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Oh c’mon Myeonnie, he gives you puppy dog eyes and you obviously enjoy it.”

“It’s not like that.” Because it isn’t, not really. Baekhyun gets Junmyeon in ways Junmyeon hasn’t really ever found before, and it’s--

Jongdae holds up his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying. As Baekhyun’s friend I’m legally obligated to kick your ass if you hurt him.”

Junmyeon frowns. “You’re my friend too.”

“Yeah, and because I am I know exactly which one of you is going to fuck up.”

“ _It’s not like that,_ ” Junmyeon reiterates firmly, looking down at his hands as they curl into fists. “He’s just a client.”

“Is he?” Jongdae is looking at him with a serious expression that doesn’t suit his face, eyebrows drawn down sternly over slitted pupils, the upward curls of his mouth forced downwards. “Is that why you spend so much time together outside of business?” Junmyeon winces; Jongdae sighs. “Look, Myeonnie, I’m just saying. Baekhyun is… closed off, most of the time, but for some reason he let you in. Don’t fuck this up. He’s already been hurt enough as is.”

Junmyeon knows this, because he’s the same; he and Baekhyun are like two halves of a face playing card, turn it around and you’ll find the mirror picture. Baekhyun let Junmyeon in because it had felt like letting himself in and Junmyeon knows this because it had been the same for him, too. He knows Baekhyun has been hurt because he sees the bags under his eyes and the way his gaze turns distant, sometimes, remembers four too many beers at four a.m and Jongdae’s couch and Baekhyun rambling on and on about how his parents had never wanted an omega, not really, even if they’d never said it to his face, didn’t want the stigma around it and the subsequent burden.

Junmyeon doesn’t say anything, so Jongdae sighs and walks back, leaving him to stew in the silence. He takes his water glass back out with him, catching the tail end of one of Baekhyun’s responses.

“...It’s a system that doesn’t make any sense,” he’s saying. “Apparently different pigments in your eyes and a few unique scents determine your capabilities as a person, and it’s such bullshit? Do you know how many weird rumours there are about omegas? Never mind the fact that male animals don’t go into heat, that there is like… _no_ reason for males to get pregnant if females exist, and that there’s _supposed_ to only be one alpha to a pack. I just got tired of people telling me I was weak and submissive just because my eyes are gold when I’m being territorial. Which I can never even use because when I do, I get belittled for it. Like? Literally what is this system? A shitty allegory for misogyny? Do we hate women so much we feel the need to show that through hating men as well?

“So yeah, I wanted to prove that the system was bullshit. It was never about power, or prestige, or even becoming an alpha, I don’t care about any of that shit. It was just about proving that I could be something some stupid label told me I couldn’t.”

Something in Junmyeon’s chest curls tighter, and Baekhyun looks away from Yixing and his camera, then, to catch Junmyeon’s eyes. Junmyeon offers him a hesitant smile, filled with pride, and Baekhyun returns it.

“That was great, Baekhyun,” Yixing compliments, powering down his camera. “Thank you for letting me interview you.”

“Thank you for interviewing me,” Baekhyun responds in turn, and they both laugh. Byul, who had been curled up beside Baekhyun for the shoot, apparently, gets up as Baekhyun does, stretching lazily before moving to sit at Junmyeon’s heels.

“I should have it written up within the week,” Yixing starts as he packs up his equipment. Jongdae crouches down to pat Byul, and Junmyeon relishes in the clear reluctance on her face about it. Share a soul indeed. “I’ll forward it to you before it goes live.”

“Thank you,” Junmyeon says earnestly. “Really.”

Yixing shrugs as he shoulders his camera bag. “It’s no problem, Junmyeon. Baekhyun was great. It’s going to be a great piece. Whether it’s really for your case or not”

Baekhyun gives a shy grin at that as Yixing peers straight through Junmyeon, making him squirm.

He moves to his reflectors Jongdae quickly stands and adds, “Let me help you with that!”

“How was it?” Junmyeon asks Baekhyun quietly as he steps towards him. “Not too much?”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “It was fun, really. Yixing is really nice.”

Junmyeon nods in distant agreement, focusing more on the way Baekhyun is crouched down at his feet to coo more at Byul, whose tail is wagging ecstatically.

“She really does like you,” he notes in muted surprise. Baekhyun looks up and grins.

“Well, we are both dogs.” He stands with Byul now in his arms, still scratching behind her large ears; Junmyeon laughs reluctantly.

“I guess so,” he jokes, and moves to rub Baekhyun’s head teasingly, scratching behind his ear too. Instead of laughing it off, though, the skin of Baekhyun’s neck just turns red, and he looks at Junmyeon with wide eyes, affronted. Junmyeon draws his hand back sharply.

Baekhyun shifts to compose himself, looking away instead to where Jongdae and Yixing are chatting happily in the centre of Junmyeon’s living room, exchanging phones. Jongdae’s hand is firmly planted on Yixing’s bicep.

“Hey,” Baekhyun starts, “Do you think it’s weird our exes are trying to get into each other’s pants?”

“A little,” Junmyeon admits, not sure how to process the idea of Yixing and Jongdae in any combination, then falters. “Wait, Jongdae’s your--”

“I’m going to head off,” Yixing announces as he moves towards the front door. “It was nice meeting you two, and good to see you too, Junmyeon.”

“You too.” Junmyeon hugs him before he can overthink it. “We should catch up sometime.”

“Maybe not because of business for once,” Yixing teases with a glint in his eye, and it has Junmyeon scratching his cheek in embarrassment as the door shuts behind him.

“We should probably get going too,” Jongdae adds, placing a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Got full moon prep stuff to organise before the main event.” He grimaces in agreement.

“What are you planning without the commune to roam about?” Junmyeon asks, genuinely concerned. Werewolves can shift at will anytime of the month, but during the full moon it’s forced and can get… messy, from what he’s heard, animal instinct overcoming human.

“A _lot_ of chains and duct tape, man.” Jongdae winks sleazily. “Maybe you’re into that sort of thing, though. Especially if Baekhyun is involved--”

“ALRIGHT AND WE’RE GOING,” Baekhyun loudly interjects, pushing a cackling Jongdae towards the door. “BYE, JUNMYEON.”

Junmyeon laughs in place of spluttering or allowing himself to get flustered. “Bye, Baekhyunnie. Don’t forget about our Friday meeting.”

“I won’t!!!!”

“Bye Junmyeon~” Jongdae calls sweetly as he’s being shoved out the door. Junmyeon stares at him for a moment before waving his hands so that it slams shut.

Junmyeon sighs in the sudden silence. Byul huffs.

“Yeah,” Junmyeon agrees, feeling warm from the inside out as he picks her up. “Me too.”

  
  
  
  


Junmyeon had scheduled Baekhyun in for an afternoon slot around three o’clock, definitely not because he’d thought about how Baekhyun likes to sleep in. He arrives at three-seventeen and doesn’t offer a single apology.

“Hey,” he greets. “I made it.”

He’s wearing a puffy black jacket over a sweater and jeans, rolled up to reveal cherry-dotted socks, of course, and his nose and ears are pink from the cold outside. Junmyeon clears his throat.

“Yes, well, it’s not like my time is of value, or anything--”

“Glad you understand.” Baekhyun gives a shit-eating grin, and collapses into a seat opposite Junmyeon’s desk with his feet over the armrest. “So, walk me through it.”

Since the court date is quickly looming over their heads, Junmyeon goes over how he wants to frame Baekhyun’s defense, having been inspired after his interview with Yixing, wanting to make sure Baekhyun agrees to most of it. He does, for the most part, claiming that he doesn’t know shit about law anyway but trusts Junmyeon, which leaves Junmyeon speechless for a few seconds before he hands over more paperwork for Baekhyun to sign. It takes almost a whole hour of just back and forth about how Junmyeon is expecting the trial to go, and they’re interrupted in the middle of it by Joohyun knocking on Junmyeon’s glass door.

“Sorry, is this a bad time?”

“No, not at all.” Junmyeon stands as Baekhyun straightens up, sitting more like a proper person rather than a useless gay as he bristles strangely. “Joohyun this is Byun Baekhyun. The pro _bone_ -o case.”

Joohyun looks unimpressed while Baekhyun wrinkles his nose. Junmyeon laughs at his own joke to himself in the silence.

“The werewolf?” Joohyun clarifies, and Baekhyun nods. She outstretches a hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” He nods curtly, returning the gesture.

“I’m just here to drop off some papers from the Choi case. There are a few numbers in there I want your opinion on.” She slides the manilla folder across the table. Her snakes hiss lazily. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

“I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” Joohyun shows herself out with a small smile as Junmyeon turns to Baekhyun. “Sorry about that.”

“No worries.” Baekhyun shrugs. “You work with a gorgon, huh? Really taking that ‘all lawyers are snakes’ stereotype to the next level.” Junmyeon laughs reluctantly. Baekhyun’s long, thin fingers drum impatiently on the armrest. He wriggles in his seat.

“She’s a good friend, despite her stereotype.” Junmyeon smiles lopsidedly. “Something you and I relate to, I guess.”

Baekhyun hums in thought. “So that’s all she is?” His eyes are wide and bright, not leaving Junmyeon’s face as he leans forward, inappropriately attentive. “A friend?” Junmyeon gives him a strange look, eyebrows furrowed. “I mean-- it’s just--” Baekhyun shrinks into his seat a little, sheepish. “--your office smells like her.”

“It does?” Junmyeon blinks, glancing around. “Well, I guess we spend a lot of time together. That’s all.”

Baekhyun growls at that, teeth bared, and it’s so sudden and quick as he covers it up as quickly as it had arisen, slamming both palms over his mouth. Junmyeon’s eyebrows hit his hairline, affronted.

“Oh my god I did not just do that.” Baekhyun doubles over in his seat from embarrassment and whines. “I’m _so_ sorry oh my god I usually have plenty of control it’s just that, the full moon is tonight and--”

“Tonight?” Junmyeon’s eyes widen. Crap, he’d thought it was tomorrow. “God Baekhyun what’re you doing here? You need to go home.”

“You asked me to come, so I--” He cuts off as he wriggles in his seat uncomfortably, inhaling sharply before looking up at Junmyeon and whimpering. Junmyeon glances out the window, seeing the sky turn red.

“Shit, let me drive you back.” Junmyeon hurriedly shuffles the papers on his desk and shoves them into his briefcase, figuring Joohyun won’t be getting those numbers until tomorrow in an email. “Come on, Baekhyunnie.” He holds the door open and Baekhyun follows after him, hunched over like there’s a tail is between his legs. “Yerim, cancel the rest of my afternoon.”

Yerim nods quickly from her cubicle, and Junmyeon leads Baekhyun towards the elevator, placing a hand against his forehead when he spots Baekhyun shivering.

“God Baekhyunnie, you’re burning up.”

“It’s just a fever, happens every time, don’t--” As Junmyeon tries to pull his hand back, Baekhyun curls his fingers around his wrist hard enough to leave bruises, keeping it in place. “--Don’t stop,” he chokes out.

Junmyeon obliges, feeling ridiculous as he continues combing his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair, but it does, at the very least, seem to calm him down as he whimpers pathetically, nuzzling against Junmyeon’s palm. It’s oddly endearing, despite the bizarre circumstances.

Junmyeon piles Baekhyun into the passenger seat of his BMW and Baekhyun whimpers all over again, curling into the leather. Junmyeon figures now isn’t a great time to chastise him about shoes on the upholstery.

He’s still shivering, his skin pale as the wolf inside battles the human on the exterior, so Junmyeon takes off his suit jacket and lies it across Baekhyun’s chest, who huddles into it, inhaling deeply. It helps calm him down somewhat, but then Baekhyun whimpers and tears one of Junmyeon’s hands off the steering wheel and places it on his head, relaxing even further as Junmyeon gently rakes his nails over Baekhyun’s scalp. It feels ridiculous, but Baekhyun seems to need it, so Junmyeon doesn’t point out the odd patting and more importantly he doesn’t stop.

Junmyeon calls Jongdae on the way with voice control, and he’s there as soon as Junmyeon pulls up to the curb, opening the door and ushering Baekhyun out.

“Shit, Baekhyunnie,” he curses. “You said you’d be back earlier than this.”

Baekhyun is sweating now, jaw clenched. “I didn’t think it’d take as long as it did.”

“Here, I’ll help,” Junmyeon offers, and Jongdae nods quickly as they lead Baekhyun upstairs to the apartment, watching him shiver.

“Baekhyunnie,” Jongdae coerces as Baekhyun wraps his fingers into Junmyeon’s jacket and dumps himself by the radiator, “you need to take off your clothes or they’ll tear when you shift.”

“Don’t care,” Baekhyun feverishly mumbles, rapidly shaking his head. “It’s too cold and we’re running out of time.” Jongdae sighs.

“Help me chain him up,” he orders, and Junmyeon is too panicked to do anything but agree, working with Jongdae to criss-cross silver chains over Baekhyun’s body and loop them around the metal radiator attached to the wall, continuing further around his arms and wrists and ankles and then locking them with a heavy silver padlock above his heart. They clasp a heavy silver collar around his neck as Baekhyun grits his teeth through the pain, writhing with every press of metal against his skin as it sizzles and burns. Junmyeon’s suit jacket lies in a pool beneath him, having fallen off. Baekhyun’s skin is red and he’s panting now, sweating.

“Sorry Baekhyunnie,” Jongdae murmurs before taking duct tape and running it around his body to add strength to the chains. He tears off another piece and holds it above Baekhyun’s mouth, waiting.

“You need to go,” is the last thing Baekhyun says, directed at Junmyeon as his chest heaves, eyes impossibly dark. The sun has finally set, and Junmyeon splutters, caught off guard. “ _Now_.”

He doesn’t ask why, just gives Jongdae one last helpless look before running out of the apartment. Junmyeon lingers in the doorway, glancing back to catch Jongdae wrapping a cloth around Baekhyun's mouth as he screams in pain, biting down into it, lips duct taped shut on top. Junmyeon flinches and dashes away, pretending he can't hear Baekhyun’s muffled screams echoing around the hall.

  
  
  
  


Junmyeon finds it hard to sleep that night, unsurprisingly, choosing to spread out documents from work around the kitchen table in favour of replaying Baekhyun’s noises of pain over and over in his mind. How much does it hurt, he wonders, succumbing to the other half of you, like that? How much does it hurt to fight?

Junmyeon stares at Joohyun’s case, the words running through his head but never sinking in as they glaze over his mind. Is Baekhyun okay? Does he deal with this every time? Is there anything that Junmyeon can do to help --and if there were, why would Baekhyun have kicked him out so… suddenly?

He grunts in frustration as he makes no progress with work, and moves to his phone charging on the kitchen counter. He wants to call Jongdae, ask if Baekhyun is okay, but then he thinks about Baekhyun telling him to leave and second guesses himself. It settles bitterly in his stomach, but Junmyeon chalks it up to full moon blues rather than any sort of personal vendetta. Or tries to, anyway.

It turns out he doesn’t need to call Jongdae, because at one in the morning as Junmyeon tosses and turns restlessly, looking at the bright moon through the cracks in the bedroom curtains, Jongdae calls him.

“What is it?” Junmyeon asks immediately, sitting up and scrubbing at his eyes as before pushing his glasses across them. Jongdae wouldn’t call him tonight of all nights if it wasn’t important. “Is something wrong?”

“Fuck, Myeonnie it’s Baekhyun he--” Junmyeon pales, immediately wide awake. “I don’t know how he got out but, _fuck_ , there’s a hole in the goddamn wall because of it!”

His voice is high and strained. “Jongdae, breathe,” Junmyeon tells him. “What happened?”

“I don’t _know_ what happened I wasn’t here,” Jongdae hisses. “It gets too dangerous for me to stick around and Baekhyun prefers to be left alone but he-- he’s never broken out of restraints like that before, Junmyeon. _Never_. I thought he’d be okay.”

Junmyeon runs a hand through his hair frantically, scouring his bedroom floor for a shirt to pull on over his sweatpants.

“It’s not your fault,” he reassures, trying to calm Jongdae down.

“I only found out because a neighbour called to ask me if I was alright after he heard my fucking radiator being torn out of the wall and a window smashing. Junmyeon we _have_ to find him. Can you do like, some sort of tracking spell--”

Junmyeon winces, grabbing his keys as he heads out, pressing his phone to his shoulder as he locks the door behind him.

“I can, but I’ll need some of Baekhyun’s things to do it. I’m coming over.” He switches it to the other ear, hesitating. “Jongdae… you don’t… you don’t think he’s hurt anyone, has he?”

Jongdae’s hesitation doesn’t soothe the turmoil in Junmyeon’s gut. “I… No, _no_ . Even if he’s in wolf form he’s still Baekhyun. I’m more worried about someone hurting _him_.”

“We’ll find him,” Junmyeon reassures. “I promise. What time did he get out? Have you called animal control?”

“Around midnight, but I couldn’t get home until now. He can’t afford another mark on his record, Myeonnie, not now of all times.” He’s right. Junmyeon hears a voice in the background say _it’s going to be okay_ , as Jongdae quietly mumbles, _thanks_ . Jongdae inhales shakily as Junmyeon drives out of his apartment building’s parking lot. “I didn’t think… he’s never… He _said_ he’s never...”

“Jongdae, it’ll be alright.” Junmyeon feels earlier panic harden and turn into resolve in his chest, because they’ll find Baekhyun. He’ll make sure of it. “Just stay put and I’ll be there in--”

Junmyeon pauses as he pulls out of the exit to the parking garage, spotting an abnormally large black dog wrapped in silver chains sitting at the entrance to the building, wagging its tail.

“Jongdae,” Junmyeon restarts, getting a _yeah?_ In response. “What colour is Baekhyun’s wolf?”

“Uhh black,” Jongdae answers. “Why?”

“...I think I found him.”

“You did?” Jongdae sounds incredulous.

“He’s outside my apartment building.”

“He’s _what_?” Jongdae makes a high-pitched noise. “Shit, I don’t know whether I should laugh or not.”

Junmyeon gets out of the car, ignoring that statement. The dog’s --or rather, wolf’s-- tail wags faster as he approaches, bounding over the sidewalk to meet him as the radiator screeches against the pavement, chained behind him with plaster still stuck to it. Baekhyun’s wolf stands taller than Junmyeon’s stomach, and is longer than him, too, with the same warm brown eyes as Baekhyun so light they’re almost golden. Sure enough his body is still covered in silver chains, collar and all, Junmyeon’s suit jacket in his jaws.

There’s a bone pendant hanging off of the collar, and Junmyeon sighs as he notices it, crouching down to examine it. _BAEKHYUN_ , it reads on one side. He flips it over. _IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL KIM JONGDAE XXX-XXXX_

Junmyeon pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Is he okay?” Jongdae asks further, Junmyeon grunting in response.

“Yeah he’s… fine. He’s probably been waiting here the whole time.” For… some reason. “I’ll bring him back now.”

Junmyeon spends a good five minutes attempting to coerce Baekhyun into the car with Jongdae on loud speaker laughing at him, but Baekhyun adamantly refuses to get in, sitting on the pavement and whining.

“Fuck, I’ll just chain him up at my place.”

“If he seems happy with you you don’t have to,” Jongdae comments, sounding sly. Junmyeon squeezes his eyes shut. “It’s just what we had to do to stop him from wandering around and acting out during the shift, but it doesn’t sound like he’s running away from you, so.”

Junmyeon grimaces. “Fine, I’ll dogsit.”

“Sweet! Thanks Myeonnie.” Jongdae already sounds much better now that he knows Baekhyun is fine, which sucks, because a fine Jongdae is a Jongdae who’s back to being a piece of shit. “He usually prefers being alone but I’m willing to bet that you’re an exception. Kinda works out for me since it’s date night anyway.”

“Wha--?” Junmyeon hears familiar laughter in the background and pales, cutting off his train of thought. “--Are you with _Yixing?!!?”_

“Call me before you bring him back in the morning~” Jongdae says sweetly. “Bye Myeonnie~”

“Jongdae wait I--” He hangs up, leaving Junmyeon talking to a beep. He stares at Baekhyun. “...Have no idea how to babysit a werewolf.”

Baekhyun’s tail wags.

Junmyeon drives his car back into the lot as Baekhyun follows it down, then whistles to call Baekhyun into the elevator, who follows obediently, squeezing into the small space.

“Baekhyun, _sit_ ,” Junmyeon commands, watching the wolf obey. “Good boy~” he coos in a baby voice. Baekhyun’s tail thumps against the ground. “Who’s a good boy?” Junmyeon scratches behind his ears and jaw, Baekhyun leaning into the touch, tail wagging faster. “Who’s a good good boy? It’s you, it’s you, isn’t it? It’s you, you’re a good boy--”

The elevator doors open on the ground floor as two residents stare at Junmyeon with wide eyes, cooing in a baby voice at a shifted werewolf wrapped in silver chains with a torn radiator behind him. Junmyeon smiles at them.

“We’ll just… catch the next one…” the woman mumbles as the door slides shut. Awkward.

Baekhyun is surprisingly obedient about following Junmyeon into his apartment, letting him use unlocking spells to dismantle the silver chains and even the collar, leaving the radiator to sit in the middle of the living room to deal with at a later date. Except when Junmyeon tries to take his jacket back, Baekhyun growls at him, holding onto it stubbornly between his teeth.

Junmyeon sighs. “Be careful, Baekhyun. It’s Gucci.”

He ends up googling how to take care of a shifted werewolf, and most of the things suggest silver bullets or wolfsbane, which isn’t really what Junmyeon had been going for. He just ends up treating Baekhyun like a normal dog, setting down a bowl of water for him which he eagerly laps up and refusing to watch as he opens the apartment door to let him piss, wondering why the hell Baekhyun is house-trained. Baekhyun trots back in with a wagging tail, jacket still between his teeth, and Junmyeon smiles at him weakly before scratching between his ears.

“Good boy,” he mumbles as he shuts the balcony door, Baekhyun following him into the bedroom as Junmyeon moves to take his shirt off and then hesitates, staring at Baekhyun who’s watching him from the entryway.

“You can come in.”

Baekhyun happily bounds over to the bed as Byul sits up and growls. It’s pretty entertaining to watch a six-foot long magical wolf fold its ears down and submit to Junmyeon’s tiny ass familiar, but Junmyeon scolds her by saying, “Byul.” And she relents, getting up and moving from her end of the bed to the pillows so Baekhyun can jump up.

The mattress sinks beneath his heavy weight, and he toys with Junmyeon’s jacket between his paws before slumping next to Junmyeon, pressed neatly to his side. His head lulls back expectantly, tail wagging still.

“What?” Junmyeon asks, to no answer other than a needy whine. He pulls the comforter over himself, and is disgruntled when Baekhyun rustles and stands, pawing at Junmyeon. “Oh my _god_.”

Junmyeon gives in by carding his hand through Baekhyun’s fur, and Baekhyun slumps back down, content, as Junmyeon absentmindedly scratches his scruff. Every time his hand stops moving, Baekhyun freezes and looks at him again, whining, forcing Junmyeon to continue endlessly. Byul, curled on the pillows, gives Junmyeon a flat look.

“It’s not going to be a regular thing, don’t look so offended.” Junmyeon huffs. How he ended up with such an uptight familiar is a mystery. “I thought you _liked_ Baekhyun.”

Byul responds to that by resting her head between her paws and shutting her eyes, which Junmyeon assumes is a victory on his part and end of conversation. He drops his gaze to Baekhyun’s dozing wolf instead, completely content and docile with Junmyeon’s hand in his fur. His wolf form is so unlike Baekhyun and yet so like him entirely Junmyeon isn’t surprised at all. He laughs breathily to himself as he rolls onto his side, throwing an arm over Baekhyun and spooning him. He doesn’t really like people sleeping in his bed, but he has nothing against dogs.

  
  
  
  
  


Junmyeon wakes up hot and sticky, groaning as he rolls over. The sun hits his eyes between the gaps in the curtains, and he winces into it, fumbling for his glasses on the nightstand by throwing an arm out blindly behind him. His other arm is completely trapped.

Junmyeon’s eyes adjust to the brightness and the lack of blur and he blinks slowly, once, twice, before registering a naked body with shoddily-dyed blonde hair on top quietly hugging his other arm against its chest.

Junmyeon screams and falls off the bed.

Baekhyun grumbles as he sits up, squinting down at Junmyeon.

“What’re you so loud for?” he slurs, scratching at his stomach. Junmyeon just keeps staring at him, his tanned skin and the pull of it over his wide shoulders, his soft, pale stomach, the dip of his snail trail to his--

Baekhyun glances down and immediately pulls Junmyeon’s jacket, still clenched between his fingers, over his crotch.

“Pervert,” he teases, smirking.

“I wasn’t--” Junmyeon splutters. “I’m not--”

“Uh-huh.”

“ _You’re_ the one waking up naked in my bed,” Junmyeon argues. “That’s way more perverted!”

“Well sorry I didn’t bring my werewolf shifting clothes with me.” Baekhyun pouts and tugs at the comforter, curling it around his shoulders. He _hmph_ s. “You’re the one that invited me up anyway. What’d you expect?”

Junmyeon opens his mouth, pausing. “You remember last night?”

Baekhyun flushes almost immediately, and naked like this, Junmyeon can see the way it goes from his ears across his collarbones to the centre of his chest. Cute.

“I wasn’t technically in _control_ ,” Baekhyun enunciates slowly. “But I was still… there…”

Junmyeon mulls that over for a bit, before smiling.

“Wow,” he says slowly, then lets his grin grow. “What a _good boy_ you are.”

“Ugh, shut the fuck up.” Junmyeon laughs triumphantly. “You spend too much time with Jongdae.”

“Speaking of--” Junmyeon glances at his phone as he stands, it’s only eight o’clock. “--You probably don’t want to go home yet. Jongdae said it was date night.”

Baekhyun pulls a face. “Him and Yixing, huh?” Junmyeon nods. “Weird.”

There’s a joke in here somewhere about Baekhyun being naked on Junmyeon’s bed, but, well, he doesn’t really want to say it. Clearing his throat in the awkward atmosphere instead, Junmyeon says, “Why don’t we go out for breakfast?” Baekhyun blinks at him. “I have no food, so…”

Baekhyun huffs once in amusement. “Of course you don’t.” He moves to get off the bed, then glances down at himself, remembering. “...Can you give me some clothes to wear first? Something cute and not Gucci.”

“Why don’t you just go in wolf form?” Junmyeon suggests. “That was much cuter.”

Baekhyun throws a pillow at his face.

  
  
  


 

Baekhyun orders the most expensive thing on the menu and watches for Junmyeon’s reaction, which he doesn’t fall for, and also doesn't mind. It's worth it for the way Baekhyun greedily eyes the massive breakfast combo and wolfishly scoffs it all down, beyond content.

“Hungry?” Junmyeon asks amusedly.

“You have _no_ idea what a full moon does to my stomach.”

Well, he's sort of witnessing it right now, both horrified, disgusted and amazed at the way Baekhyun inhales all the food.

“I can imagine,” Junmyeon comments dryly. “I guess I forgot to feed you last night.”

“Negligent owner,” Baekhyun retorts smartly with his mouthful.

“But you didn’t whine about it because you’re _such a good boy~_ ” Junmyeon’s lips purse as he baby-talks, and Baekhyun flushes, kicking Junmyeon beneath the table. Junmyeon laughs triumphantly.

“Shut up.” Baekhyun’s ears are red, shoving another forkful of bacon and eggs into his mouth. “Don’t make me use my safeword.”

This time it’s Junmyeon’s turn to sputter and choke on a mouthful of coffee, making Baekhyun grin victoriously.

“You’re terrible.”

“Yeah, but you like me anyway.”

Junmyeon usually hates losing, but he doesn’t mind it when it’s to Baekhyun, if it means he smiles like that.

His phone buzzes in his back pocket, cutting off any further response. It’s a forward from Yixing.

_My editor just finished it. Enjoy._

“Oh, your article’s done,” Junmyeon says. “Do you want to read it?”

Baekhyun stretches out his arms comically like a child, making grabby-hands. “Gimme gimme.”

“Uh-uh,” Junmyeon tuts, feeling his lips curve up as he draws his phone back. “Sit. _Siiiittt_.”

“We’re literally already sitting down.” Baekhyun’s arms fall back dejectedly to his sides. “I hate you so much.”

“Good boy.” Junmyeon laughs and hands the phone back over as Baekhyun rolls his eyes and kicks him under the table. “Wow, doggy you was much more obedient.”

“Please Junmyeon, you’re beginning to make me think you like my wolf form more than me.” Baekhyun pouts cutely, thumb between his fingers with his thumbs curled over the screen. “I’m going to get jealous.”

“Don’t act like you’re not one and the same just to get praise.” Junmyeon cuffs Baekhyun’s ear across the table, who yelps and somehow pouts harder, jutting out his bottom lip before glancing back down at the phone screen to skim over the article. It makes Junmyeon ponder something.

“...If you were still conscious during your wolf escapades last night,” he starts. “Then can you explain why your wolf was at my doorstep to begin with?”

It’s a comical thing, the way Baekhyun’s entire body freezes, staring at Junmyeon’s phone screen without reading anything as his eyes stay in one place.

“Haha yeah… I have… no idea… weird, right?” Baekhyun laughs all over again, loud and grating.

Junmyeon frowns, unconvinced, but Baekhyun buries himself in the article by smushing the phone screen to his nose, and cutting off any further response. Junmyeon is excited to read the article himself, truth be told, but it’s somehow more interesting to watch Baekhyun do it instead first across the cafe table, the way his eyes move back and forth and the little facial expressions that pass through, eyebrows pinched in some parts and grinning in others, sometimes grimacing or wrinkling his nose. It’s so… cute.

“Read it aloud,” Junmyeon says suddenly, making Baekhyun’s attention snap forward. “I want to hear it.”

“I’m nearly done though. It’s not that long.”

“I don’t care.” Junmyeon smiles reassuringly, dragging his fork through the maple syrup on top of his pancakes. “Just do it.”

Baekhyun huffs once, shaking his head slightly before dropping his gaze back to the phone.

“...There’s something humorous in a vampire going to interview a werewolf,” he reads. “And yet it’s hard to see Byun Baekhyun as anything other than a man. A man who has been wronged, mind you, by old traditions built on foundations who have no place in the modern day. ‘ _It’s a system that doesn’t make any sense,’_ he tells me, as he goes on to recount stories of sexual harassment, belittling, and discrimination just because his eyes glow a different colour to the rest of his pack’s when he feels the need to be defensive or territorial.

“It makes me wonder where the line must be drawn, between traditions of old and a new formation, where superstitions about golden eyes can be thrown out the window in favour of celebrating diversity. Where we cease to fight an open-minded world just because it may be different to what we once knew. Baekhyun has spent his whole life trying to be something the world around him refused to let him be, and the moment he proved himself right, he was crushed.

“It ends with a quote,” Baekhyun quickly adds, shuffling around, elbow resting on top of his thigh. “‘ _It was never about power, or prestige, or even becoming an alpha_ ... _It was just about proving that I could be something some stupid label told me I couldn’t.’”_ Baekhyun grins at Junmyeon. “Damn I’m good.”

Junmyeon laughs. “If you say so.” He holds his hand out expectantly for his phone back, but Baekhyun just keeps scrolling around.

“It’s a really good article, makes me sound a lot smarter than I am. I can tell Yixing likes writing about these sort of things.” His eyes run over the screen absentmindedly. “You were right. This is definitely going to help.”

“Yixing is very talented,” Junmyeon agrees, smiling at Baekhyun’s flat look. “And I’d be able to tell you how great the article is myself if you gave me my phone back so I could read it.”

“Oh my god,” Baekhyun remarks, completely ignoring Junmyeon altogether. He stifles a childish giggle. “What _is_ this?”

He turns the phone around, revealing that he’s now scrolling through Junmyeon’s camera roll instead, opened to a selfie Junmyeon had taken of himself and his bare chest.

“Alright, give that back--”

“Nice abs Myeonnie woah~” Baekhyun coos, continuing to flick through. Junmyeon lunges across the table but it’s no use, Baekhyun just pulls back, still giggling. “Who do you even send these to? Your mom?”

“They’re for me,” Junmyeon answers, and attempts to compose himself by clearing his throat and adjusting his polo’s collar.

“There are nine thousand pictures and they’re all of you and Byul I _can’t--_ ”

Baekhyun makes an ugly wheezing noise and Junmyeon attempts a levitation spell to pull his phone back to no avail, no thanks to Baekhyun’s iron grip. Instead Baekhyun just ends up being tugged forward and smashing down into his plate of avocados and eggs, dirtying his elbows.

A laugh is jolted out of Junmyeon but he’s forced to smother it when a waitress comes up to them and says, “Sir, I’m going to have to remind you this is a no magic premise.” She points to the sign on the wall next to the NO SMOKING and NO UNDERAGE DRINKING proudly declaring NO MAGIC.

“Sorry,” Junmyeon apologises sheepishly, still biting his lip trying not to laugh as Baekhyun grumbles and wipes off his elbows with napkins from the dispenser on the table. “Here,” Junmyeon offers, and glances over his shoulders before flicking his fingers and watching the grease and food lift off of Baekhyun’s skin and back onto his plate.

He arches an eyebrow. “You _just_ got told off for that.”

“I took pity on you.” At Baekhyun’s scathing look, Junmyeon laughs. He’s way too easy to rile up.

“You’re not a witch or a lawyer,” Baekhyun replies matter-of-factly. “You’re just terrible.” He turns the phone screen around to another of Junmyeon’s selfies, wrapped in a hoodie and pointed at his wardrobe mirror, Byul in his arms. “Except at taking pictures of yourself.” He inhales sharply. “I should send these to Jongdae.”

Junmyeon freezes. “Don’t. You. Dare.”

Baekhyun dramatically taps the screen and Junmyeon closes his eyes in pain as he hears the messenger bubble noise, immediately followed by a ping --Jongdae’s immediate response, no doubt.

“Oh look at that,” Baekhyun remarks. “Yixing laughed too.”

Junmyeon lurches across the table to get his phone back, reduced to petty childishness yet again, but they both freeze in place when Junmyeon’s phone begins to vibrate as a call comes through. Baekhyun blinks dumbly before turning the screen around, revealing an incoming call from _Mom_.

Junmyeon hits the red button across the table, taking his phone back and sinking down into his seat.

“Was that important…?”

“No,” Junmyeon answers quickly, shaking his head. “She’ll just be reminding me about tomorrow, don’t worry. I can call her back.” He forces a smile onto his face at Baekhyun’s look of disbelief, closing out of the gallery app and back onto email to skim over the endings of the article. “I really am proud of you for this,” he starts suddenly, gesturing to his phone, desperate for the change in subject. “It turned out really well.”

Baekhyun’s ears and neck are red. “Well…. Thanks.”

“I mean it,” Junmyeon offers genuinely. He makes it to the top and sees the photo of Baekhyun on Junmyeon’s couch, smiling at something beyond the camera with Byul in his arms. It’s humanising and charming and sits uncomfortably in Junmyeon’s gut. “It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there the way you did, Baekhyun. The way you always have.” Junmyeon swallows thickly, clicking the phone shut. “It’s really admirable.”

“‘Admirable’?” Baekhyun gives Junmyeon an amused look. “I’m just a dumbass pot-dealing werewolf trying to prove a point.” His toe nudges Junmyeon beneath the table. “Not some hotshot lawyer.”

Junmyeon shakes his head. “It’s not about that,” he argues. “It’s just… the way you are, Baekhyun. I don’t know. I wish I could fight like you do.”

Baekhyun stares at Junmyeon strangely, then, searches his face.

“No you don’t,” he replies quietly. “Or else you’d be on trial too.”

That startles a laugh out of Junmyeon, covering it with the back of his hand. Baekhyun’s grin slowly blossoms across his face.

“Besides,” he adds, “you’re a lawyer, aren’t you? You’re fighting something everyday too.”

It’s not the same sort of fighting, not at all, but it makes Junmyeon smile all the same. Baekhyun isn’t like Junmyeon; he refuses to let omega define him but he’s still a werewolf at heart, whereas Junmyeon had chosen law over magic like it was that easy to deny a part of himself.

“I guess so,” he relents, as Baekhyun’s smile brightens just that bit further and something in Junmyeon’s chest inflates a thousand times. He bites his lip, unable to look away, and reaches down to his plate to pick up a slice of strawberry, placing it on the tip of Baekhyun’s nose. Baekhyun goes cross-eyed looking at it, confused.

“Good boy~” Junmyeon coos, after a few seconds where Baekhyun hasn’t immediately gone to eat it. He scowls, flinging the strawberry at Junmyeon who laughs even as it stains his polo shirt, and pretends like he’s still the winner when Baekhyun wipes off the remaining maple syrup and sucks on the tip of his index finger.

  
  
  
  


Sunday is witch council day which means Junmyeon’s mandatory visit home. As always they drink tea and eat stupidly small foods around the table in his mother’s study, where feather dusters clean the shelves themselves and books fly around to organise themselves as the ink words across their pages get jumbled accidentally.

And Junmyeon, as always, isn’t listening, thinking about Yixing’s article and the upcoming court date. Baekhyun’s case consumes his mind twenty-four-seven, these days, or maybe it’s just Baekhyun.

“Junmyeon,” his mother speaks up, regaining his attention. “What do you think?”

Usually, Junmyeon is better at listening to these things, but he’d been to distracted thinking about Baekhyun. Baekhyun, Baekhyun, Baekhyun. How he’ll do in court, how they’ll win this, how Soojung should testify, what Baekhyun will do after they win. The shape of his smile when he laughs too loudly, the way his voice goes soft at four a.m, the glint in his eye when he’s making fun of Junmyeon. Everything about Byun Baekhyun is all-consuming, and Junmyeon hates the way it eats him up, because he _hates_ losing, and yet he’s losing pieces of himself to a stupid werewolf boy with brightly coloured patterned socks.

“I’m sorry. What were you asking?”

His mother is entirely unimpressed. “Do you think red velvet or chocolate for the dessert Saturday week?”

“Saturday week?” Junmyeon parrots. “What’s Saturday week?”

The entire council exchange glances, his mother, affronted, smoothing down the front of her Louis Vuitton blouse.

“The Yuletide ball,” his mother answers, lips pursed. “It’s being hosted at the Park estate.”

Shit, Yuletide. How could Junmyeon forget?

“You’re coming, of course.” It’s not a question.

“Yes,” Junmyeon answers, strained. He’s not given much of a choice --after all, Junmyeon is a lot of things, but he’ll always be his mother’s son. “...Red velvet.”

His mother hums, and one of the other chancellor’s notes down his vote, making Junmyeon frown. He’s not a witch, so his vote shouldn’t count, and yet...

Distantly, Junmyeon’s thoughts just round back to Baekhyun, like always. Baekhyun would fight to get out of it, maybe, would tell his mother that he won’t attend Yuletide because he’s _not_ a witch, would adamantly refuse no matter what the consequences are. But Junmyeon fears losing her favour, losing his family, losing a place he once called home. He’s never been good at fighting, like that, can only ever seem to commit halfway, sit on some fence between the rules he follows and the rules he refuses to obey. Committing to one thing would mean losing in the other, and Junmyeon would rather stretch himself so thin he snaps than have that.

“Excuse me.” He stands up from the table to walk to the bathroom further down the hall, inhaling to calm himself by the mirror and squeezing his eyes shut. He unlocks his phone just to give his hands something to do, pulls up Baekhyun’s number and thinks to text, _how do I learn to bite like you do?_ But he doesn’t. Junmyeon knows exactly what he has to do to stop himself from feeling so pulled taut, but that doesn’t mean he knows how to do it.

He closes the app by swiping it away and accidentally opens his gallery in the process, finding new pictures at the very bottom of the camera roll that depict Baekhyun in the cafe from yesterday, making childish faces at the camera. Junmyeon can’t even remember when he’d managed to do that, laughing to himself at Baekhyun’s puffed out cheeks and jutted bottom lip. There are peace signs and finger hearts and cross-eyed expressions all taken in quick enough succession that Junmyeon can tell Baekhyun had been smashing the capture button, just to be annoying.

Junmyeon smiles to himself, shaking his head fondly as he heads back out. He doesn’t delete a single photo.

  
  
  


Before Junmyeon can even register it, Baekhyun’s court date sneaks up on them, and Jongdae proposes they go out drinking to celebrate.

 _Absolutely not._ Is what Junmyeon sends, fullstop and all. Jongdae sends a crying sticker in return.

Junmyeon has spent the past few weeks fulfilling his defense and briefing both Soojung and Baekhyun for how they should testify when it comes to the trial date, doing practice runs --separately, of course-- and making sure they phrase their responses properly so as to not come off the wrong way, and to win over the jury --especially in Baekhyun’s case.  

But nothing will ever compare to the real thing.

Junmyeon had texted Baekhyun to wear blue and dress proper, since blue is an honest colour, and Baekhyun had replied with, _what are you wearing ;)_ which Junmyeon had promptly ignored. The courthouse awaits them this afternoon, and the stress of a trial always gets to Junmyeon even when he’s had years to get used to it. There’s just no time for joking around.

Baekhyun and Jongdae arrive at the courthouse together thirty minutes before Junmyeon is set to pick the jury, both wearing suits without ties. Their trial time slot is the last timeslot of the day, which adds a time pressure, as well as the nerves of waiting the whole day away for this moment.

Jongdae gently touches the inside of Baekhyun’s elbow. “I’m going to wait inside,” he says quietly, and Baekhyun nods before facing Junmyeon.

“You look good,” Junmyeon approves, a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder in hopes to calm his nerves. “Really.”

“Thanks,” Baekhyun replies noncommittally, fiddling with the cuffs of his white shirt beneath a navy blazer. His hair is brushed back off his forehead, and it shows off his handsome face, as well as the anxiety across it. It’s strange, really, to see him in something other than rolled up jeans and patterned socks. “The suit’s Jongdae’s. I don’t even want to know why he has it.”

Junmyeon chuckles quietly. “Well it’s a good thing he does, I don’t think your current hiatus on drug dealing could afford you one.”

“...That’s client privilege and you can’t tell anyone about that, right?”

Junmyeon just smiles. “Ready?” he asks, after checking his watch. Baekhyun shrugs, although he looks more relaxed, if only just.

“As I’ll ever be.”

Junmyeon had known Kwon Hyukwoo was being represented by somebody from Park & Lee, but he hadn’t expected it to be Kyungsoo of all people, placing his briefcase calmly on the table in front of him as they go through their jury selection. Junmyeon aims to pick the youngest in the crowd, for people who are bound to be more open-minded and sympathetic, whereas he notes Kyungsoo doesn’t waver on the older members. Junmyeon uses up his passes too quickly and inwardly curses.

Kyungsoo is infamous in the magi-political law world, mostly for having a vicious record of victories. Incubi are annoyingly charming as is outside the court, so it’s always pissed Junmyeon off that even past the charmed barrier that prevents any sort of magic inside Kyungsoo is _still_ infuriatingly charming. They’ve only ever gone against each other once, and Junmyeon had lost. It still stings.

Before their clients enter, Kyungsoo holds out his hand to Junmyeon, curved ram horns glinting and tail flicking. He reminds Junmyeon of Jongdae; maybe that’s why he hates his stupidly handsome face, clunky glasses and all.

“Good luck, Junmyeon,” Kyungsoo says politely. Junmyeon clasps his hand.

“You too.”

Hyukwoo enters and sits aside Kyungsoo’s briefcase just as Baekhyun does. He smirks at Baekhyun across the floor, who growls in the back of his throat in response.

“Baekhyunnie,” Junmyeon tries placatingly, placing a hand on the back of Baekhyun’s neck. He relaxes into the touch and sighs.

“All rise.” The courthouse stands to their feet as Judge Kim Taeyeon enters and sits at the bench, falling back as she does. Kyungsoo approaches the bench with a binder presenting the case, and runs through his side of the story.

“Kwon Hyukwoo and Byun Baekhyun are both members of the Half-Moon pack,” Kyungsoo presents, Junmyeon putting his hand on Baekhyun’s thigh beneath the table as he spots the tendons in his neck flexing. “With their difference being only in ranking. My client will not lie... things between him and the accused have never been amicable, especially since the accused has always been jealous of my client’s position in the pack.”

Baekhyun’s knuckles turn white on his kneecaps, but his face is admirably neutral.

“Therefore it makes sense that the accused would assault my client out of jealousy--”

“Objection,” Junmyeon quickly shouts, refusing to stand for any more of this. “This is nothing but speculation, your honour--”

“Overruled.”

Junmyeon grits his teeth, sitting down dejectedly. Baekhyun’s face twitches, once, as Kyungsoo turns to look at them, eyebrows raised. He hums.

“I would like to bring my first witness to the stand, your honour.”

From outside the courtroom, Shin Donghee enters and moves to the front beside the bench, swearing himself in before seating. The whole courtroom is on edge watching his every moment, the early nerves and excitement buzzing in the air.

“Would you care to recount the events of what happened that night?” Kyungsoo prompts.

Donghee nods. “A full moon had just passed, and we were celebrating the night after. There was… lots of alcohol, so I guess Baekhyun just wasn’t thinking when he attacked Hyukwoo unprompted when some of the alphas were discussing our plans for the next full moon.”

He says it so easily, so _casually_ as the whole room gasps, shrugging like that isn’t a load of bullshit. Junmyeon feels himself seething, but swallows it down, because he can’t let his personal opinion get in the way of this case. He’s remembering suddenly why it’s not good to fraternize with clients, but Jongdae never has been a good influence.

“I rest my case, your honour.” Kyungsoo gives a tight smile before sitting down.

Junmyeon stands up, ready for his turn.

“So all the alphas were having this ‘discussion’, I’m assuming, away from the main festivities?” he asks.

“Yes,” Donghee answers simply meeting Junmyeon’s eyes. “That’s correct.”

“Does this happen often?”

“Of course.” Donghee nods. “The alphas often have to organise main events.”

“Then why is it, exactly, that not every single alpha in the pack was present?”

“There are too many alphas within the pack for that to be viable,” Donghee says. “So we have a small elected council instead.”

“And instead of celebrating you chose to… ‘plan’. That night of all nights?”

There’s a tiny flicker of hesitation in Donghee’s eyes. “That’s correct.”

“Please list out the members of this council for me,” Junmyeon prompts.

“Myself, Kwon Hyukwoo, Shim Changmin, Lee Donghae, Choi Siwon.”

Junmyeon pauses. “Not Jung Soojung?”

“...She was only passing by,” Donghee relents, jaw clenched.

“But you admit she was there?” Donghee nods. “And it’s not because rules of a proving insist that the --or in this case, a-- female alpha must be present in order for the judgement to be made?”

“Objection your honour,” Kyungsoo quickly interjects. “The witness has already testified that what took place was an unofficial meeting--”

“Overruled,” Taeyeon says easily, squinting at Junmyeon. “Where are you going with this, Kim?”

“Your honour,” Junmyeon tries charmingly. “As my client remembers it, this ‘random attack’ was not a random attack at all, rather it was under the consensual eyes of a traditional werewolf Proving.” He gestures to Donghee. “The alphas listed by the witness, including Jung Soojung, were all a part of the council present to judge this tradition. When Kwon Hyukwoo rightfully lost, he instead pressed charges to avoid the loss of his title. That is why my client pleads not guilty.”

Taeyeon doesn’t say anything, watching Junmyeon carefully. “Continue your questioning, Kim,” she orders eventually, so Junmyeon does as he’s told.

Donghee’s testimony is airtight, and matches perfectly to Lee Donghae’s, down to the detail of Soojung passing through the eastern field and being caught up in the events after hearing the commotion of Baekhyun’s attack. It certainly sticks Junmyeon between a rock and a hard place, trying to uncover their lies but finding no entrances. He wonders if Kyungsoo had done this for them through Hyukwoo, or something, or if they had hated the idea of Baekhyun breaking rules so much they did it for themselves.

Finally, it’s Junmyeon’s turn to bring Soojung to the stand from outside the courtroom, shifting in the seat uncomfortably before raising her chin and smothering her nerves. Junmyeon asks her to recount _her_ version of events.

“It was just after a full moon and we were having our usual monthly celebration,” she begins carefully, sure to meet Junmyeon’s eyes. “Hyukwoo made an inappropriate remark about Baekhyun being the only male omega in the pack when we were sitting around the campfire, so Baekhyun challenged him to a Proving to… prove him wrong, I suppose.”

“And what was this inappropriate remark, Ms. Jung?”

Soojung bites her lip. “I believe Hyukwoo called Baekhyun a… ‘useless bottom bitch’. It wasn’t the first time.”

She winces sympathetically, and Junmyeon watches the wave of discontent pass through the courtroom pleasantly, Baekhyun’s face held perfectly still.

“And then what happened, Ms. Jung?” Junmyeon prompts.

“Hyukwoo accepted,” Soojung replies accordingly. “A judging council of head alphas and myself was quickly put together for the Proving, and we moved to the eastern field for privacy for the battle.”

“And they fought as humans, not as wolves?” Junmyeon asks.

“That’s correct.”

“And my client won?”

Soojung nods firmly. “Yes. He was determined the winner by the bite mark Hyukwoo had on his neck, here.” She gestures to the stretch of skin joining her neck to her shoulder, tapping it with an index finger. Taeyeon’s lips purse as she glances down to the binder in her hands, where photos of Hyukwoo’s injuries had been documented as evidence.

“And what is it that happened after my client’s traditional victory?” Junmyeon asks.

Soojung swallows. “Donghee said that the Proving was void, Baekhyun asked why and was given no reason. They argued, and eventually Baekhyun was subdued as Hyukwoo was taken away by Changmin to an ambulance. The police were called and Baekhyun was arrested for assault.”

“Thank you, Ms. Jung.” Junmyeon nods in acknowledgement before going back to Baekhyun, inhaling slowly because his questioning had gone well, and it’s a point on their side of the court.

“I have no questions to ask this witness, your honour,” Kyungsoo says as he stands, surprising Junmyeon. “I would much rather question the accused himself.”

Junmyeon tenses; no questioning? Straight to Baekhyun?

Taeyeon waves her hand disinterestedly, beckoning Baekhyun forward. “Very well.”

As Baekhyun walks to the stand, he shoots a worried look at Junmyeon, who tries to convey as much reassurance as he can. Baekhyun swears himself in, and Junmyeon glances over his shoulder at Jongdae, who’s biting his bottom lip, eyebrows pinched in worry. Their eyes meet, and Junmyeon turns away. The accused taking the stand is always a risky play, but Junmyeon is hinging on the sympathetic picture Baekhyun easily paints on winning them this case.

“I think throughout this trial, Mr. Byun, there has been one gaping question on both mine and the jury’s minds,” Kyungsoo begins, pacing slowly across the floor as Baekhyun’s eyes track his movements, obviously on edge. “If this ‘Proving’ was actually what had taken place--” Baekhyun’s face stays open and unreactive, Junmyeon relaxing minutely at the fact, despite Kyungsoo’s attempt to change it. “--why would the alpha witnesses have denied your rightful victory?”

“Because,” Baekhyun answers easily, “they fear change and they hate me. Soojung said it, weren’t you listening?” Baekhyun arches an eyebrow as Kyungsoo remains impassive. “I’m the only male omega in the pack, so that makes me some sort of… scorn, or something.” He scoffs. “Whatever the hell that’s about.”

“And if they fear this change,” Kyungsoo continues, undeterred by Baekhyun’s attitude. “Why is it that the Proving would be a tradition in the first place?” Baekhyun falters at that, somewhat, and Junmyeon’s eyes widen. Shit. “Why _would_ the alphas have allowed you to attempt the test if they would have never let you win to begin with?”

Baekhyun falters, neck tendons flexing as his jaw clenches. “I don’t know,” he answers. “Some sort of false hope? Ego? Because they didn’t think I’d actually win?”

“If they feared you winning so much they should have never allowed this ‘Proving’ in the first place, so it makes me wonder.” Kyungsoo stares at Baekhyun directly, tail flicking. “Maybe they didn’t.”

Baekhyun’s face twitches. “Well, you’d be wrong.”

“Would I? Or would it be more correct for me to assume that after one too many drinks my client made an inappropriate joke under the influence, something completely understandable yet provoking you completely, because you’d always been jealous of my client’s position despite being close in age--”

“No,” Baekhyun firmly interjects, but Kyungsoo continues undeterred. “You’re wrong--”

“You’d always felt discriminated against for being different, even though your pack has always welcomed you, and your individuality was something beyond their control--”

“ _No_ , that’s not--”

“So when you saw him meeting with the other alphas you were overcome with jealousy and rage, feeling excluded, and attacked my client for no viable reason, under the guise of it being a ‘Proving’--”

“This isn’t--”

“And the only reason it _wasn’t_ a Proving and never _could_ be a proving,” Kyungsoo says with finality, “is because you had already participated in a Proving years prior, and lost.” All the blood leaves Baekhyun’s face, turning him pale. Junmyeon freezes; Baekhyun had had a Proving before? How could he have not told him? “The alphas of your pack have never feared change, Mr. Byun, rather they knew you were unfit to become an alpha and denied your request for yet _another_ Proving in order to prevent you from being hurt. But that didn’t stop you, did it? After all, you’re just a wolf at heart, and nothing could stop your animalistic instincts from attacking my client out of rage and jealousy for him being something you could never be--”

“SHUT UP,” Baekhyun yells, growling as he leans over the stand, baring his teeth at Kyungsoo. Junmyeon stands up immediately. “Shut your _smug_ fucking face, you don’t know _anything_ about what it’s like to be a werewolf--”

“Objection your honour,” Junmyeon cleanly shouts, cutting Baekhyun off and trying to stop him from making a fool of himself in front of the jury any more than he already has. He can’t meet Baekhyun’s eyes. “The accused has been personally provoked without evidence.”

Taeyeon arches an eyebrow as Baekhyun’s face falls. “He’s _your_ client, Kim.”

“And Mr. Do’s… interesting perspective--” Junmyeon makes sure to have his voice dripping with sardonicism. “--has derailed the questioning and put my client in a state of emotional unrest.”

Taeyeon’s lips purse. “Sustained.” She bangs her gavel. “Since it is long past six p.m, this trial will be postponed until Monday.”

At least both Junmyeon and Kyungsoo are confused by that. “What?” they ask in unison.

“I’ve had enough.” Taeyeon rubs her temple. “The courthouse closed an hour ago and I’ve entertained your trial long enough. We will resume on Monday,” she reiterates.

Baekhyun slumps down dejectedly before holding his head in his hands and groaning, scrubbing his face. Junmyeon catches Jongdae’s eyes behind him and they wince in unison.

Junmyeon packs up his briefcase and heads outside, not even sparing a glance in Baekhyun’s direction.

“Shit,” Jongdae breathes out as Junmyeon walks past where he’s leaning against the wall, quickly falling into step beside Junmyeon. “That was messy.”

“You’re telling me,” Junmyeon pinches the bridge of his nose. “I knew putting Baekhyun on the stand would be a mistake,” he mutters.

“No, Myeonnie, it wasn’t.” Jongdae puts a hand on his shoulders. “Letting Baekhyun tell the truth was the right thing to do, you couldn’t have predicted that that… Kyungsoo guy would be such a snake.”

“But I should have.” Junmyeon pulls away. “That’s the thing, Jongdae. I should have.”

But he hadn’t, because he’d gotten too caught up in fantasies of easy winnings and tales of underdogs somehow winning them this case. Too caught up in the fact that if Baekhyun could win Junmyeon over so easily, then how could he not do it to anyone else?

Idiot.

As Baekhyun finally exits, heading towards them, Junmyeon grips Baekhyun’s bicep.

“My office,” he hisses. “ _Now_.”

Jongdae looks at them worriedly but doesn’t say a thing as Junmyeon hauls Baekhyun down the few blocks it takes to get to the Xiumin-Lu near the city courthouses, Baekhyun wincing in pain but not complaining as they head to Junmyeon’s office on the fortieth floor.

Junmyeon pushes him behind the glass door and slams it shut.

“Junmyeon, I can explain--” Baekhyun tries.

“Explain it, can you?” Junmyeon bites back. “The fact that you never mentioned to me that you’d had a Proving before?”

Baekhyun blinks, eyebrows scrunching. “That’s what you’re mad about?”

“Of course that’s what I’m mad about!” Junmyeon half-shouts, trying to keep his voice down but it’s so _difficult_ , even if the offices are empty and there’s no one around to hear. It feels like Baekhyun had breached some sort of… understanding they’d had between them, and it’s all tangled up in Junmyeon’s chest, business mixed with pleasure. It shouldn’t hurt as much as it does, but then again, Junmyeon should have never let Baekhyun in so much. “I don’t care that you were provoked or lost your cool, Baekhyun. I care that you kept privy information from me only to find it out from the opposition’s incubus!”

“I didn’t think it mattered!!!”

“ _Of course it mattered_ ,” Junmyeon hisses. “How could you think the fact that you’d been in a Proving before in a case about a Proving _wouldn’t matter?_ ”

“I--” Baekhyun shirks into his shoulders, faltering, looking guilty. He casts his eyes downward as Junmyeon’s nostrils flare. “--Because it _didn’t_ matter,” he says quietly. “I was fifteen, and my brother pissed me off by making fun of me for being an omega, so I challenged him to a Proving.” Baekhyun raises his head then, unbuttons the top few of his shirt and pulls it aside to reveal his clavicle, where a pale, crescent scar dots around it and over his neck. “My parents let it happen because they thought it would be a good lesson for me to learn my place.” He laughs bitterly, once. “It’s where your mate is meant to claim you, y’know? When you bond?” Junmyeon’s anger washes away instantly, his shoulders falling. “But instead I get the reminder that because of some stupid system some idiot misogynist homophobe invented, everyone in my pack will always see me as a useless bottom bitch.”

Junmyeon’s eyes close, exhaling slowly. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?” Baekhyun’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “It’s not like it’s your fault, and you have every right to be mad at me, you know. I should’ve told you, but I didn’t even think about it.” His shirt falls back into place as he rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, glancing out the window. “It’s a sore spot.”

Junmyeon shakes his head. “No, I don’t have any right to be mad at you, and I’m sorry for that.”  He runs a hand through his hair shakily as he sits at his desk, exhaling slowly as he relaxes into his seat. “I’m more emotionally invested in this case than I should be.”

“Yeah?” Baekhyun tilts his head. “How so?”

Junmyeon laughs through his nose with no humour in it. “I got too caught up in it all, it’s too… personal. Too close to home. I let my feelings overcome my judgement and that’s why Kyungsoo managed to gain the upperhand today, because I wasn’t thinking three steps ahead like I should have.” He looks up at Baekhyun, meeting his eyes. “I got too caught up in you.”

Baekhyun bites his lips, stepping forward slowly as he leans at the edge of Junmyeon’s desk beside him.

“You did?” he prompts quietly, searching Junmyeon’s face. Junmyeon wonders what he finds.

He nods. “I should’ve been professional, I should’ve been able to distance myself from this case and keep a clear head, and yet… I didn’t. I blew it out of proportion and lost myself.”

Couldn’t have kept a clear head, really, with the way Baekhyun had occupied every nook and cranny of it, filled Junmyeon’s mind with naive ideals typical of the soft feelings of a crush or an infatuation, bled it into every other cell in his body, even the ones that should’ve been professional. Junmyeon was a fool to think he could ever be friends with a client, especially if that client is Baekhyun, who inspires action and perseverance like no one Junmyeon has ever met before, and who he’d been pulled towards the second they’d met in that jail cell months ago.

When he dares to look up, Baekhyun is still watching him, eyes soft yet dark. A warm brown so light they’re almost gold.

“We’ll win this,” Baekhyun speaks up suddenly, “you know that, right?” Hesitantly, one of Baekhyun’s hands rises to smooth down the collar of Junmyeon’s shirt tenderly, ruffled in all the commotion.

“How can you be so sure?” Junmyeon asks, voice weak.

“Because--” Baekhyun smiles, and shifts closer, cupping Junmyeon’s face with his hands so that he’s forced to look up at him. One leg raises to straddle over Junmyeon’s lap, a teasing, pleased curl to Baekhyun’s lips. His pant leg raises in the process, and from the corner of his eye Junmyeon manages to catch a glimpse of cacti-patterned navy socks above fake-leather loafers. The sight makes Junmyeon soften. “--you promised me a victory, and I know you Junmyeon.” His eyes flick back up to Baekhyun, and he’s so close now it’s almost suffocating, tracing out the moles beside his nose and the uneven bow to his top lip. “You hate losing.”

Baekhyun leans forward and kisses Junmyeon and it is, Junmyeon thinks, something else about today he should’ve seen coming but didn’t. Baekhyun kisses Junmyeon with a soft hesitance unbecoming of a wolf, and Junmyeon opens his lips against Baekhyun’s tiny noise of surprise and kisses him harder to taste more of them. His hands smooth up Baekhyun’s thighs to his hips and trace circles over the prominent bone as one of Baekhyun’s hands wrap around the back of Junmyeon’s neck to pull him in closer.

Baekhyun kisses Junmyeon, and Junmyeon kisses him back, unable to think about pulling away and why he should when he’s so caught up in how warm Baekhyun is, how responsive. Baekhyun has consumed Junmyeon for months now and Junmyeon wants to do the same to him, standing suddenly with his hands beneath Baekhyun’s thighs and swallowing Baekhyun’s surprised yelp as he’s pushed back against the desk, a hand flying backwards desperately to balance himself. Papers are pushed off and trinkets go flying in the process, the medusa bobblehead cluttering to the ground dejectedly as Baekhyun just moans and Junmyeon tastes it, the hand around his neck becoming a whole arm as Baekhyun pulls him impossibly closer.

Junmyeon’s hands slide underneath the hem of Baekhyun’s button up as his mouth moves downward across his cheek and jaw and beneath his ear lobe, kissing down his neck and making Baekhyun shiver in a way Junmyeon can feel against his fingertips and lips. He makes it down to Baekhyun’s still-unbuttoned collar and sucks at his throat hard enough that he feels the vibrations of Baekhyun’s groan in his mouth, making it to the bitemark at his shoulder and sucking a bruise there too.

Baekhyun’s back arches in pleasure, and his fingers curl around Junmyeon’s tie to forcedly tug him back up for another famished kiss, raking his teeth over Junmyeon’s bottom lip and making him inhale sharply. For weeks Junmyeon has craved this, and never has giving in ever felt so good. Everything is too hot and too much and not enough all at once, Junmyeon pushing Baekhyun’s blazer off his shoulders as Baekhyun does the same to him with one hand, the other still tugging at Junmyeon’s tie to keep his mouth in place as Baekhyun sucks on his tongue, legs wrapped around Junmyeon’s hips.

It’s only after Baekhyun has unbuttoned Junmyeon’s shirt and raked his nails over his abs, eyes glowing a strong blood red in animalistic want, that some sort of clarity jumps into Junmyeon’s mind, and he remembers where he is and what --or rather, who-- he’s doing.

“Baekhyun, stop,” Junmyeon pants, and Baekhyun pauses immediately, blinking dazedly as Junmyeon pulls back, pupils blown wide and back to brown as his chest heaves.

“Is something wrong?” Baekhyun tilts his head slightly, rapidly searching Junmyeon’s face.

“I--” he tries, failing. “You’re my client, Baekhyun, and I’m not-- I’m not having sex with you in my office.”

“Crush my fantasies why don’t you.” Baekhyun grins teasingly before standing up, hopping off the desk. “But that’s okay, we can just go back to yours.” He winks cheesily. “Despite what my asshole pack says I am actually prone to switching like a normal person, just so you know--”

“No,” Junmyeon interrupts firmly. “ _No_ . I’m not… I’m not having sex with you _at all,_ Baekhyun.”

“Then can we make out some more, or…?”

“You’re a _client_ , Baekhyun.” Junmyeon pinches the bridge of his nose. “This is unbelievably inappropriate.”

“Says who?” Baekhyun scoffs, fingers curling through Junmyeon’s shirt. “I won’t be your client in three days, what difference does it make? I’m done waiting.” He leans in again.

“A huge one.” Junmyeon steps back swiftly until his back is against the glass of the window, disentangling Baekhyun’s fingers in the process, who frowns. “I can’t… I can’t let this get any worse than it already has, not if we want to win, Baekhyun. It’s distracting and unseemly.”

Baekhyun’s previous mirth quickly falls away into anger. “Bullshit,” he calls out. “Since when have you ever cared about how other people tell you to act?”

Since forever, no matter how much Junmyeon tries to fight it. “Baekhyun, be reasonable. I’m your lawyer--”

“I can get another.”

“--Not in the middle of a trial, Baekhyun, _please_.” Junmyeon sighs in defeat. “How do you think this would fare in court if Kyungsoo found a way to slip it in? How would it look to Judge Kim? To the jury?” Baekhyun’s mouth is a firm line.

“I don’t know if I can wait three days,” he admits reluctantly. “But if it’s for you, then maybe...”

Junmyeon winces. “But even outside of court Baekhyun I don’t…” he trails off. “...What happens once I’m not your lawyer? How would this work?” Baekhyun’s face falls, looking at Junmyeon with confusion and dejection and betrayal all at once. “You go back to the pack --or worse, prison-- and I stay here and we’re what? Still friends? More than that?” Junmyeon runs a hand through his hair. “I can’t exactly bring you home to the witch council and I don’t think your commune takes to outsiders well, so we should just--” Junmyeon exhales in a rush, losing his momentum. “--...not.”

Baekhyun stares at Junmyeon in the silence, then laughs.

It’s bitter and scathing and sounds wrong, nothing like Baekhyun’s true laugh, instead the clashing of notes after a hand slams piano keys, jarring discord.

“You are so fucking full of shit,” Baekhyun spits bitterly, scoffing out another laugh. “You don’t care about any of that. This is just about you doing what you always do, putting your foot in the door and refusing to walk through.” He picks up his blazer, shaking his head. “Y’know, I thought maybe, just _maybe_ , you of all people wouldn’t care about what other people think.” He turns away. “But I guess I’d be wrong.”

“Baekhyun--” Junmyeon tries.

“Just answer me this,” Baekhyun interrupts, “and do it honestly, Junmyeon. Are you a witch? Or are you a lawyer?”

Junmyeon opens his mouth, but no sound comes out.

Baekhyun huffs once, shaking his head slightly.

“That’s what I thought.”

Junmyeon reaches out to stop his office door from slamming shut, in hopes of following Baekhyun out, but he doesn’t. Just remains behind the glass as he watches him walk away.

  
  
  
  


It’s hard, Junmyeon finds out, to enjoy anything when you haven’t slept.

Not that he’d enjoy sitting in his office on a Saturday pouring over work under normal circumstances, but it’s even worse when the shadows under his eyes weigh heavily, and he can’t bring himself to focus. His mind is snagged on the memory of kissing Baekhyun, and equally on the memory of him storming out of Junmyeon’s office, fuming.

Lawyer, or witch? Junmyeon asks himself, the same way Baekhyun had, and finds he doesn’t have an answer. He’s torn in half between what he wants to be and what he once was, and it leaves him in some strange sort of limbo where he seems to be neither, too ashamed to own up to his own pride.

A knock at the door pulls Junmyeon out of his own reverie, staring at Hyukwoo’s file without intaking any of the words.

“What’re you doing here?” Joohyun asks. “I came in because I forgot my iPad charger and some paperwork and saw the lights were on.”

Junmyeon glances up at her, blinking dumbly. “I just needed to go over a few things before Monday’s trial…”

“Isn’t it Yuletide?” She gives Junmyeon an amused glance at his Gucci dinner tux. “Won’t you be late?”

He shrugs. “Probably.” Junmyeon runs a hand through his carefully styled hair, inevitably ruining it. “I don’t think I can go, though.”

Joohyun hums at that, folding her arms and leaning against the doorframe. “And why’s that? Won’t your mother be expecting you?”

“Yes…” he trails off. “...But why would somebody who’s not a witch go to Yuletide?”

“You’re not a witch?”

“No,” Junmyeon replies firmly. “Lawyer.”

“Then why do you dress like one?” Joohyun teases, stepping forward into Junmyeon’s office and leaning against the side of his desk. Memories of Baekhyun invade his head. “And smell like one, and why do you use magic to do your hair like one?” She flicks at his bangs teasingly, Junmyeon childishly swatting her hands back.

“Because I don’t know if I am one or not,” he answers truthfully, his chest feeling like it’s caving in on itself. “And I thought maybe if I sat in here and stared at the wall hard enough I’d work it out.”

Joohyun smiles, softening. Her snakes tip their heads at Junmyeon curiously as they watch him.

“Why here?” she asks bluntly.

“Because in here I’m a lawyer. but at Yuletide I’d be a witch.” Junmyeon frowns. “Because in here people expect me to be a lawyer, and out there people expect me to be a witch, and I feel like I need to absorb the experience of both before I make a choice.”

“A lot of people will have expectations of you no matter what you do, though,” Joohyun says plainly. “Even if you choose one for yourself, someone out there will always see you as the other.” Her eyes travel to the ceiling idly. “I’m a gorgon, Junmyeon, and everyone I’ve ever met expects me to turn them to stone, even though I’ve never done that to anybody. Not even once. It made me realise that what people expect of you doesn’t really mean anything in the scheme of things?” Junmyeon’s eyebrows furrow at that, mind stuttering.

“It’s just… people will always expect different things of you no matter what you do,” Joohyun assures. “But at the end of the day, that’s all the more reason to stop catering to them. It’s okay to lose when it comes to this, Junmyeon. You don’t always have to win people’s favour. Nobody’s perfect, especially not you.”

“Hey--”

“So it’d just be better to do what you want, not what everyone else wants.” Joohyun offers him a small, albeit genuine, smile. “So stop being Mr. Class President and ask yourself what _you_ want. Witch, or lawyer?”

Witch, or lawyer? Junmyeon wonders, and thinks about Baekhyun again. Baekhyun who is both wolf and human, alpha and omega, rambunctious and childish but mature and coolheaded. Baekhyun, who likes pineapple on pizza and smoking pot and patterned socks and strawberries, who likes people playing with his hair and hates early mornings and people who make judgements based on nothing. Baekhyun, who makes no sense whatsoever and who is the only person in Junmyeon’s life who has ever made so much sense it physically _hurts_.

Junmyeon wants to be a lawyer, to be something he shouldn’t _and_ to help people like Baekhyun, and he wants to be a witch, to practice the magic that’s always been a part of him. He doesn’t want to go to Yuletide and he _so_ doesn’t care about sitting in on witch council meetings, but he does want to win this case against Kwon Hyukwoo, and he does want Baekhyun, in any way Baekhyun will let him, now that Junmyeon has already screwed this up.

“Both,” Junmyeon answers finally. “I’m both. I can _be_ both, no matter what anyone else says.”

Joohyun is beaming at Junmyeon openly. “That’s more like it.”

Realisation has him leaving his office with Hyukwoo’s files crammed into his briefcase clumsily and tossed into the back of his car, all after thanking Joohyun profusely which she laughs off before waving him away. Maybe he and Joohyun should invest in this intimate feelings stuff more often.

Junmyeon drives across town to the Park family mansion and has his name crossed off the guest list before locating his mother in the grand hall.

“Junmyeon,” she says sternly as he catches her eye and pulls her away from a circle of old-fart witches Junmyeon still remembers the names of after being carefully grilled as a child. “You’re late.”

“And I’m not staying,” Junmyeon replies. “But you’re my mom, so you at least deserve to know why.”

Her face twitches. “What’re you--”

“I don’t care about Yuletide, mom,” Junmyeon starts, completely honest, getting it all off his chest. But then the rest just starts pouring out. “And I don’t care about council meetings and whether broomsticks are in or not and whether we eat chocolate cake or red velvet.” He inhales. “I… despise finger foods, and stuffy traditions, and your cat familiar hates me and I hate it.” His mother’s expression is impassive, and it only spurs Junmyeon on further. “I’d prefer tequila and pineapple pizza and hanging out with a stupid werewolf boy who sells pot for a living and his infuriating tiefling roommate.

“I may be a witch, mom, but I’m also a lawyer, and I’m also so much more than all of that put together because labels and expectations can’t define a single person.”

The people around them are staring while pretending like they aren’t, Junmyeon can tell, but he’s too busy registering the smothered fury across his mother’s face and relishing in his newfound freedom to pay attention to it. He feels like the rebelling teenager he never got to be, and it’s _so_ goddamn freeing.

“...You should leave,” is all his mother says, making Junmyeon’s face fall. “You can come back when you’re not trying to cause a scene.”

“Mom--”

“ _Enough_ , Junmyeon,” she hisses, glancing around her as she leads him to the hallway. “I’ve put up with these… lawyer shenanigans of yours enough as is. We’re not dealing with this tonight, and if you’re going to act out then you can leave.”

Junmyeon just laughs despite himself, shaking his head. “I don’t know what I expected,” he admits. “I put my foot in the door and it’s you who refuses to walk through.”

But she can’t let go of him, because she’s still his mother, and at the end of the day he’s her son and that’s more important to her than whether he’s a witch or not. It has to be.

“I’ll visit you later this week, maybe, after this case is done,” Junmyeon tells her curtly. He huffs through his nose, meeting her eyes. “I’m not just a witch, mom, and I’m not just a lawyer either. I’m sorry the rest was never enough for you.”

She searches Junmyeon’s face. “Don’t say that,” his mother scolds. “You will always be enough for me, Junmyeon. I just know that you could be destined for so much more than… _this_.”

“But this is what I chose, mom,” Junmyeon tries. “And this is what I’ll always be.”

She looks like some mix between disappointed and heartbroken, and Junmyeon hates that he’s done this to her but it has, in hindsight, been a long time coming.

“Enjoy Yuletide,” Junmyeon tells her quietly before turning around and walking away. He exhales slowly as he walks back across the manicured lawns to his car, knowing it’s not the conversation he needs to have with his mother, not even close to it, but it’s a start. One building block to fix out of many, and it feels so entirely freeing Junmyeon doesn’t even know what to do with it.

He grins to himself.

  
  
  


Junmyeon spends all of Sunday drafting up a new defense against Kwon Hyukwoo, and thinking three steps ahead for any countermeasure Kyungsoo may take. This new angle of Baekhyun’s previous Proving puts a dent in their case, but it’s not as much a black hole as Junmyeon had first thought.

When he arrives at the courthouse Monday morning, their trial the first timeslot of the day, Jongdae and Baekhyun are already waiting for him outside the court by the water fountain. Same suits, but this time with ties --probably to pretend they’re not the same suits. Baekhyun spots Junmyeon approaching the instant he walks through the front doors, and immediately turns away.

Jongdae turns to Junmyeon pointedly. “What the hell did you say to him on Friday?”

“Hello to you too.”

“I’m serious, Junmyeon.” Junmyeon can tell Jongdae is serious, because he’s frowning deeply, and his tail won’t stop flicking anxiously. He doesn’t look the same when his eyebrows are drawn together like that, blocking Junmyeon’s path. “Baekhyun shifted and spent the whole weekend in wolf form moping on the couch to avoid talking to me. What the fuck did you do?”

“Something I’m going to fix immediately,” Junmyeon tells Jongdae, stepping around him to follow Baekhyun down the hall. “I promise.”

He doesn’t find Baekhyun around the corner, but he does find Kyungsoo and Hyukwoo, chatting to each other in muted voices. Kyungsoo arches an eyebrow as Junmyeon freezes in place.

“Here to spy?” he jokes dryly.

“No.” Junmyeon fixes the cuffs of his sleeves as he clears his throat. “Just… looking for Baekhyun. Did he come this way?”

“Your own client?” Kyungsoo seems bemused, then shakes his head. “I didn’t see him.”

“You shouldn’t bother looking for him,” Hyukwoo interjects, making Junmyeon frown. “No matter what you say to him, he’s going to lose today.”

“Hyukwoo,” Kyungsoo says sternly, advising him to stay quiet.

“Is that so?” Junmyeon goads, impassive.

Hyukwoo’s smile looks more like a sneer, smug and sickening. No wonder Baekhyun punched his face in.

“Baekhyun’s an omega.” Hyukwoo bares his teeth. “And omegas always lose.”

It’s the splittest of seconds, just a minute flash of possession and dominance, but as Hyukwoo’s hackles rise to intimidate Junmyeon, his eyes flash gold.

And Junmyeon knows exactly how to win this case.

“Enough, Hyukwoo,” Kyungsoo scolds. “You shouldn’t talk to the opposing counsel.”

“ _You’re_ doing it,” Hyukwoo replies childishly.

“Because I’m not an idiot, and Junmyeon and I are on equal footing.” Kyungsoo rubs his temple beneath his horns, turning to Junmyeon. “Is your werewolf client this infuriating?”

Junmyeon smiles, slowly, crawling across his face. “You have no idea.”

He quickly excuses himself to find Baekhyun, more desperate to track him down than ever. Junmyeon eventually finds him sitting in the waiting area of a different court, flicking through a celebrity gossip magazine. He pointedly doesn’t look up as Junmyeon stands in front of him.

“You don’t seem like the type to enjoy reading that,” Junmyeon starts lamely.

“Yeah?” Baekhyun prompts, licking his finger before turning the page. “And what would you know about baseless expectations?”

Ouch.

Junmyeon sighs in frustration. “Baekhyun please, can we just be professional for a second?”

That makes Baekhyun finally raise his head, tipping it to the side as he scrutinises Junmyeon.

“Oh look at that, you’re giving me deja-vu.”

His attitude is infuriating. “For the record, this right now is exactly why we _shouldn’t_ have an inappropriate relationship.”

“For the record,” Baekhyun mocks, in a high-pitched voice and all, “this--” he gestures between them by waving his index finger back and forth. “--right now wouldn’t be happening if you _hadn’t_ been an ass about it.”

...Fair point.

“Baekhyun can we please talk about this later--” Junmyeon pinches the bridge of his nose. “--I know I fucked up and I will fix this, but this isn’t the time or the place for that and winning this case comes first. Just... trust me, would you?”

Baekhyun’s mouth twists, and he exhales, slumping. “Fine,” he relents, straightening in his seat. “What’s the plan, boss?”

Junmyeon smiles freely, relieved. “We give Kyungsoo a taste of his own medicine.”

  
  
  
  


Baekhyun enters the courtroom alongside Junmyeon with a strange sort of confidence set in his shoulders, head raised high despite his previous misdemeanour from the week prior. Kyungsoo watches them carefully, eyebrow raised, and Junmyeon smiles at him cordially before sitting down.

The case is quickly re-capped, with Kyungsoo’s third witness, Choi Siwon, making his testimony. As identical as the alphas before him, save Soojung, of course. Junmyeon fails to slip him up just like the others, but Choi Siwon isn’t the ticket to winning they need.

“If that’s all the opposing counsels have to present,” Taeyeon announces, “then--”

“I would like to question the victim, too, your honour,” Junmyeon quickly interjects, swallowing tensely, once, to smother any of his nerves before they can show. This is his last shot before the case is wrapped up and the jury make their decision. He glances over at Kyungsoo, briefly. “Before the verdict is made.”

Taeyeon shrugs. “Very well.”

As Hyukwoo swears himself in, Baekhyun looks at Junmyeon, who nods firmly in reassurance. He’d promised Baekhyun long ago that they’d win this, and he intends on keeping that promise.

“Mr. Kwon,” Junmyeon starts, “can you explain your relationship with my client?”

Hyukwoo gives Junmyeon a puzzled look. “Hasn’t it already been said? Baekhyun has always been jealous of me. We’ve never gotten along.”

“Right,” Junmyeon agrees. “Because of your position in the pack?”

Hyukwoo shrugs. “I guess? We’ve never liked each other, it can’t be helped. There are a lot of wolves in the half-moon pack. We can’t all be expected to be friends.”

“It had nothing to do with your crude treatment of him due to his presentation as an omega?”

“Of course not.” Hyukwoo leans back in his seat smoothly. “I’ve never treated Baekhyun differently for being an omega.”

Junmyeon hears Baekhyun scoff behind him, arms folded as he rolls his eyes, Junmyeon slowly turns back to Hyukwoo.

“Then why would my client have chosen you?” Junmyeon prompts. “Of all the alphas in the pack for him to be jealous of, he apparently chose to victimise you that night.”

“We were all drunk,” Hyukwoo says plainly. “I don’t know. Maybe because I was the youngest at the meeting and he thought that would make me an easy target?”

“Because you were the youngest,” Junmyeon repeats. “And not because you called my client a… ‘useless bottom bitch’.”

Hyukwoo pushes his jaw forward, only just. “I don’t remember saying that, so yes.” He bristles. “And even if I _had_ , I was drunk. It wouldn’t have justified him attacking me. How can you take the word of one alpha against five others?”

“One alpha,” Junmyeon agrees. “ _And_ one omega.” Hyukwoo’s jaw clenches. “Tell me, Mr. Kwon. Is it possible for an omega to overtake the alpha through recreating a Proving? Your bite wound, for example... it matches the same one my client got the last time he lost a proving.”

“No.” Hyukwoo answers flatly. “Consent has to be given beforehand by drinking wolfsbane, and there has to be packmates to witness it.”

“So my client bit you to make it seem like a proving? Because in his drunken jealous rage he had the clarity of mind to think that through?”

The hesitation on Hyukwoo’s face is obvious, and Junmyeon can’t help but smile when he spots Kyungsoo’s tail go rigid out of the corner of his eye. Jackpot.

“...I guess,” Hyukwoo relents. “Maybe it had been a long time coming. Maybe he’d been planning it out.”

“And if the attack had not been a surprise I assume you’d have won and Baekhyun would be in your place?”

“Objection your honour--”

“Overruled,” Taeyeon tells Kyungsoo. “But keep in line, Kim. You’re pushing it.”

“Of course, your honour.” Junmyeon nods once, before turning to Hyukwoo. “But humour me.”

“I absolutely would have won,” Hyukwoo sneers, chest puffing out in pride. “I’m an alpha, and Baekhyun is an omega. It’s the law of the jungle.”

Junmyeon hums. The wolf is trapped right where he wants him.

“If this was always the case then why would Provings exist to begin with?” Hyukwoo’s eyes widen. “If there is such a large difference in strength between you, then why would wolves even bother giving omegas the chance?” Two can play at this game, Do Kyungsoo. “...Or could it be that there truly _isn’t_ a difference between alpha and omega other than social standing, and the Proving only exists in order for natural selection to make its way through the pack. What is it that you said, Mr. Kwon…. the law of the jungle?”

Hyukwoo’s nostrils flare.

“But you couldn’t stand that, could you? You’d always been an alpha on top, yet here was an omega constantly challenging that fact, challenging what you’d always known… So when my client suggested a Proving, you agreed, because you jumped at the chance to assert your dominance.”

“Objection your honour--” Kyungsoo looks furious. “--this is mere speculation with no evidence otherwise.”

“Sustained.” Taeyeon glares at Junmyeon. “Stay on track, Kim.”

“Sorry,” Junmyeon apologises timidly, but Hyukwoo in front of him is fuming, and all he needs is one last push to tumble off the edge. One last push Kyungsoo can’t object against. “Would I be wrong in assuming, Mr. Kwon, that you have always cherished your title as alpha dearly?”

Hyukwoo grits his teeth, rising to the bait. “No.”

“So when you lost it of course, to some pathetic, weak omega, that was the end of the world for you, wasn’t it?” Hyukwoo’s face turns red in anger. “You were beaten and you were bruised and you’d just lost the one thing in your life you’d always held above everyone else’s head so you did the first thing you thought of and pressed charges so that no one would ever know you’d lost--”

“ _No_ ,” Hyukwoo hisses. “I’d _never_ fucking lose to a filthy omega.”

His eyes flare a bright gold as he attempts to assert his dominance over Junmyeon like the good little alpha show-off he once was.

Junmyeon just smiles.

“Your honour,” he says coolly, despite Hyukwoo’s outburst. “Would you mind telling the court what colour Mr. Kwon’s eyes turned just now?”

“...Gold,” Taeyeon answers, confused.

“Right. And Mr. Kwon, what _is_ the colour of an omega’s eyes, exactly?” Junmyeon can see the realisation passing over Hyukwoo’s face, and it is all too fucking satisfying.

“G-Gold,” he manages, voice weak.

“So if this wasn’t a Proving, consensual by both parties with wolfsbane involved--” Junmyeon pauses for dramatic effect, really, feeling the whole courtroom on the edge of their seat hanging onto his every word. “Then why is it, Mr. Kwon, that you now present as an omega, when my client presents as an alpha?”

A flutter of murmurs rush over the courtroom, and even Baekhyun looks shocked at that revelation, touching beneath his left eye gingerly. Junmyeon catches his gaze and smiles before turning back to the bench.

“Now, if my client could demonstrate. Rather unofficially--” Junmyeon gestures to Baekhyun, nodding once, and the whole courtroom watches as Baekhyun inhales before his eyes flash once, a brilliant deep red. Junmyeon sits down. “I rest my case.”

Kyungsoo is rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses, a sure fire look of defeat. Hyukwoo on the stand is just pale and shaken. The jury leaves to make their verdict.

“Do you think we won?” is all Baekhyun asks quietly as they file out of the courtroom to await the verdict. As the only member on the counsel, however, Junmyeon is forced to stick around in case there are any questions.

“You said you trust me, didn’t you?” Junmyeon places a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder. Baekhyun squeezes it before walking away.

Kyungsoo sighs the moment Junmyeon enters the waiting room.

“I thought I had you last week,” he admits. “But you got me.”

Junmyeon grins childishly. “I did, didn’t I?” He jostles Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “Payback for the necromancer case from last year.”

Kyungsoo’s lips curl. “You’re one to keep a grudge, huh?”

“I plead the fifth.”

Kyungsoo laughs.

They’re called back into the court after about an hour, but it takes an extra twenty minutes or so for both Hyukwoo and Baekhyun to make it back, Baekhyun handing his coffee cup to Jongdae before rushing to his spot beside Junmyeon.

The jury’s foreman steps up, and Baekhyun grips Junmyeon’s thigh.

“We find the accused not guilty,” she announces, and Baekhyun exhales in a rush of relief, smile blooming across his face. “All charges against the accused have been dropped.”

Baekhyun stands up as Junmyeon does.

“We did it!” he exclaims, and crushes Junmyeon in a hug.

“Can’t breathe,” Junmyeon wheezes out. Baekhyun is flushed as he pulls back.

“Sorry sorry--” He quickly smooths down his shirt, ears red. Hyukwoo at the other end of the courtroom looks pale and shaken, aghast. Kyungsoo just jostles him out of his seat.

Outside, Jongdae hugs both Junmyeon and Baekhyun, one arm each around their necks. He sniffles. “I am so proud of you guys.”

“Are you actually showing emotion right now?” Baekhyun asks, grimacing. “What the fuck?”

“Shut it,” Jongdae spits out with no venom, then wipes his nose on the back of his hand. “It’s been a stressful three months. That victory really came outta nowhere, Myeonnie. Why didn’t you just start with that?”

“I didn’t realise until today that they _had_ switched positions in the pack,” Junmyeon admits.

“How?” Baekhyun asks. “When did you see my eyes change?”

Junmyeon clears his throat. “When we kissed,” he answers.

“When you _what_?” Jongdae’s jaw drops open.

Baekhyun raises a hand over face. “Not now,” he says, then turns to Junmyeon. “Did I really go all wolf-y on you while we made out?”

Junmyeon laughs lightly. “Guess so.”

“Man _I_ didn’t even realise my eyes had changed.” Baekhyun prods at his cheeks in thought, stretching them out with his fingers as he pinches them. It’s cute. “To think we could’ve solved this last week and fucked if I’d had just looked in a mirror and wolf’d myself.”

Junmyeon clears his throat again sheepishly, and Jongdae says, “Uhhh yeah so, you guys clearly have some shit to work out, so I’m just gonna, awkwardly stand over there--” he jabs a thumb over his shoulder, stepping back. “Actually,” he restarts, spotting Kyungsoo walking past, “I’m gonna grab the hot lawyer’s number.”

“You’re actually relentless,” Junmyeon states, amazed.

“Hey, Yixing’s got nothing against sharing.” Jongdae winks. “Plus incubi are literally lust demons. Sue me.”

“I might just have my lawyer do that!” Baekhyun calls back as Jongdae slips away. Junmyeon laughs.

“But I won’t,” he adds quietly once Jongdae is out of earshot. “Because I don’t want you to be my lawyer anymore.”

Junmyeon can’t help his dopey grin. “I don’t want to be your lawyer either.”

“Are you sure about that?” Baekhyun prods, tipping his head to the side. “Because y’know, Friday-You certainly had a _lot_ of excuses to make regarding this--”

Junmyeon flicks his fingers so that Baekhyun’s mouth turns into a zip, _again_ , and Baekhyun glares at him before breaking the spell.

“Not here, please,” Junmyeon tries. He swallows. “Why don’t we go grab pizza?”

“At three p.m?” Junmyeon nods. Baekhyun shrugs. “So long as you’re buying.”

There’s a pizza place not too far from the courthouse, a tiny hole in the wall with fluro-coloured plastic chairs and tables that don’t match the decor. They pick a spot inside away from the cold as Junmyeon orders a large hawaiian to share, tucking a napkin into his collar to protect his Gucci shirt.

Baekhyun rests his chin in his palm and chuckles. “Nice,” he commends, gesturing to Junmyeon’s makeshift bib.

“Thank you,” he replies earnestly. “This shirt _is_ Gucci,.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes knowingly, but his fingers drum on top of the table, betraying his nerves.

“So?” he asks eagerly, after Junmyeon just keeps dragging the silence out to see how long it will take for him to crack. “What’s the jury’s verdict?”

“Weren’t you paying attention in court?” Junmyeon teases. “Not guilty, Baekhyun. You’re off scot free.” He fiddles with his cuff then, as the pizza is placed in front of them. “So what are you going to do with your sentence? Or lack thereof.”

“First, I’m gonna eat this delicious looking pizza,” Baekhyun announces, rubbing his hands together like a fly and greedily licking his lips. “Second… I don’t know.” His arms fall down dejectedly as he frowns. “My whole family is with the pack, but my whole family kind of treats me like shit. I don’t know if I want to go back to a pack that tried to get me imprisoned.” He shrugs stiffly, as calmly as saying the sky outside is cloudy. “Living with Jongdae kinda sucks but if we got a better place, well… I think we’d both like the company.”

Junmyeon had had no idea. “Has this been the plan since the start?”

Baekhyun shrugs. “No. Kind of. Not that you gave me a chance to explain that last time--” Junmyeon winces. “--but Jongdae offered, and after the whole trial thing…” His eyes flash red briefly as he shovels a slice of pizza into his mouth. “I don’t really want to be an alpha if it means having to be something I’m not with a bunch of people who hate my guts, so maybe I’ll just become one of those lone city wolves.”

“With a hot lawyer boyfriend to send you lame shirtless selfies?” Junmyeon suggests timidly, feeling like Baekhyun deserves some of his bravery. Baekhyun hums around his mouthful.

“Dunno yet,” he replies, chewing loudly before swallowing it all in one go. “Still waiting to make that decision.”

He stares at Junmyeon pointedly, who clears his throat and shifts in his seat before reaching for a slice, just to give his fingers something to do.

“My whole life, people have always… expected things of me,” Junmyeon starts, staring at a cube of pineapple. “To be a great witch, to be a great lawyer… to be president of my class or valedictorian.” Baekhyun watches him impassively, chin in hand. “And I hated being those things, and I hated _not_ being those things, because I could never make up my mind between what I wanted and what everyone else wanted. I guess I’m a people-pleaser at heart, but I’m also incredibly selfish.” Junmyeon smiles lopsidedly.

“...And?” Baekhyun prompts, sensing the end of Junmyeon’s grand monologue.

“And,” Junmyeon agrees with a smile. “It took me a lot of years and a stupid werewolf boy with dumb socks to make me realise that tearing myself in two was making me unhappy.”

“I am a lawyer,” Junmyeon says firmly. “And I’m also a witch, and I’m someone who likes pineapple on pizza and you, Baekhyun. I like you.” Baekhyun’s mouth parts gently, the softest inhale between his pink lips. “But I hate losing and I _really_ hated losing you, even if it was only for a few days so I’m sorry. I’m sorry I chickened because I’m also a coward who couldn’t make a choice and I’m sorry you got caught up in my own life-changing narrative--” Baekhyun laughs at that, his beautiful, genuine smile. “--but I’m not your lawyer anymore, and I’m definitely not working pro-bono for you ever again, so please. I’m all out of excuses.”

Junmyeon outstretches his hand over the table. Baekhyun bites his lip to suppress his smile before taking it, interlacing their fingers. There’s a pretty flush across his cheekbones.

“My socks aren’t dumb,” is the first thing he says. Junmyeon laughs.

“No,” he agrees, squeezing Baekhyun’s fingertips. “They aren’t. They’re very cute.”

Baekhyun’s neck turns pink, spreading to his ears. “That speech was really dramatic, y’know.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m really embarrassed right now.”

“I can see that.” Junmyeon laughs.

“But I like you a lot so I guess I can forgive you.” Baekhyun squeezes Junmyeon’s hand back, the other hand covering his face somewhat. “No more chickening out, though, okay? I’m a lone wolf now. I’ll need all the support I can get from lawyers and witches both.”

“And I’ll be there to give it to you,” Junmyeon replies, smiling. “Promise.”

Junmyeon will need to call his mother after this, probably, will have to use a spell to get the grease stains out of his suit and crawl into work tomorrow morning at eight a.m hating himself. But right now instead he has Baekhyun determinedly standing and rounding the table to straddle his lap and kiss him hard enough that the plastic chair bends back, making them both laugh, completely uncaring of the dirty look the staff are giving them.

Junmyeon cups Baekhyun’s cheek, who rumbles happily at the touch, opening the kiss. There’s no tequila, no telephone calls, and certainly no Kim Jongdae, which is exactly how Junmyeon knows it’s a perfect happy ending.

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> title from [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP1m6dFMYnY) kinda.  
> thanks for reading my experimental mess hiujndsf im never writing urban fantasy ever again


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